Wednesday, 6 May 2020

See Hear Podcast Episode 56 - Dogs In Space



September 2018

The history of cinema is littered with films that have nostalgia for a simpler time in the writer or director’s life. Often they’re done with quite a bit of distance which creates a sense of wistfulness.

Then there’s Dogs In Space.

Welcome to Episode 56 of See Hear Podcast.

This month our beloved Tim was relocating to Toronto after many years in Seoul, so he took the month off from gasbagging about movies while settling in. Bernard and I settle in the second of our requests for the year. Michael Benton, film studies lectuter at Kentucky College requested we tackle the 1986 film from Richard Lowenstein Dogs In Space based on Lowensein's recolletions of the wild and fun times living in a share household in the inner suburb of Richmond in Melbourne. The house is populated with punks, hippies, a lothario quoting socialism, and the worst sounding punk band around.

The film is less of a narrative and more a slice of life. Unlike other films devoted to nostalgia (like American Graffitti), Dogs is set in the very recent past from the time Lowenstein filmed it. He was able to freshly recount the exciting times he'd had, while looking at the very point where the fun stopped and the parties ended. The film came under fire for focusing more on the fun and hedonism of his youth and less on the tragedy of heroin use. RL said it was his youth to document s he saw fit....and the heroin use is not painted lightly.

Bernard and myself discuss the punk scene of the day, Melbourne punk venues, Nick Cave, Michael Hutchence, rocker versus art school rivalries, and lambs as pets. We hope you enjoy the discussion.

NOTE: I realised later on that every time I mention the name Sam Sejavka (the real life singer of The Ears, who Michael Hutchence's character is based on), I say "Sevajka". My apologies for my tardiness. Please don't start a flame war on this.

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Download episode 56 from here.

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