Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34997 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-06-07
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
No review of Lawn Dogs can adequately describe this extraordinary movie, nor can the title or any simple synopsis. In fact, there's no way of knowing what Lawn Dogs is really about until the very end when the last 90-minutes takes on a whole new significance.

The basic story follows the formation and fruition of a simple friendship. Devon (astounding newcomer Mischa Barton) is a 10-year-old girl born to glamour magazine identikit parents who live in the plush US suburban Camelot Gardens Estate. Trent (Sam Rockwell) is a 20-something lawnmower man whom everyone considers trash and who lives in a forest trailer. As secret friends they fill the holes in one another's lives. She has no other friends because she thinks "other kids smell like TV". It's all perfectly sweet and innocent. But naturally there's no way the uptight neighbourhood would perceive it that way. A creeping sense of doom begins to overtake events; but it is where this seemingly obvious tale twists at the end that makes the community's darker quirks a revelation.

On the DVD: Lawn Dogs on disc comes in a 16:9 transfer that retains the superb cinematography of endlessly stretching flat horizons. The three-channel sound is equally of benefit to a subtle bluesy score. Regrettably the only extra is a trailer. As a winner at numerous International Film Festivals, this picture really deserved something more. --Paul Tonks

Special Features
16:9 Wide Screen
DVD 5
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Surround English
Dolby Digital Surround
Interactive Menus
Scene Index
Theatrical Trailer

Synopsis
Youngster Devon (Mischa Barton) is transplanted by her parents into an uptight gated community, Camelot Gardens. The lonely and imaginative ten-year-old girl escapes the confines of her new "community" and makes friends with an isolated eccentric, Trent (Sam Rockwell), who lives in a trailer on the outskirts of town. Trent mows the lawns of Devon's family and is looked down upon by the upper-class denizens of Camelot Gardens. When their secret friendship is revealed the community explodes, unable to understand the innocent bond between the two outcasts.

Customer Reviews

a gem
I was watching TV late one night and happened upon this little gem.
I have been a fan of Sam Rockwell for a few years now and so was really happy to find him on Channel 4 in the wee hours, and I liked it so much I bought it from Amazon.
Lawn Dogs is, as with most of Rockwell's films, an overlooked and underrated piece of art. The story is unusual (a little holey at times but on the main it was quirky enough to pull it off) and a little unsettling, but all in all I highly recommend it to adults who miss magic in cinema and to those who really enjoy great good acting with bite and verve.
Micha Barton (now all growed up and in the OC on E4) is such a brilliant actress, holding her own against some seriously heavyweight performers. Charming and delicate, dangerous and eccentric, her charactor's reaching out to Sam's 'lawn dog' is both understandable and heavily burdened with the responsibility that this has to be done right or it'll be horrible. Well it isn't horrible, it's charming and a love story in the truest sense of the word.
See this movie. See All of Sam Rockwell's movies - he's a small man with a GIANT talent.

AN ABSOLUTE TREASURE! UNMISSABLE...
LD is an enchanting story of isolation & friendship, brought to us from Austalian John Duigan, director of 1991's masterpiece The Year My voice Broke, & 1989's Dead Calm. The story centers around 10 year old 'new to the neighbourhood' Devon, & 20 something 'trailer trash' lawn mower boy Trent, set against a magical & quite surreal backdrop of American middle class suburbia. The weighty & wide ranginig themes touched on, (class/ social politics, sexual repression & hypocrisy, paedophillia, violence & media induced paranoia / sensationalism, & lastly bigotry), are interwoven not only cohesively, but with great insight style & beauty. Capitalist values within a sort of 'redneck mentality', sums up the residents of the ironically named Camelot Gardens, an exclusive 'well to do' housing complex, where Devon has just moved to with her somewhat apathetic mother, & status obsessed father, who states, "the way I see it is- you got people that mow lawns & you got people that own em- & they aint never the same sorta people.." Stifled & lonely in the sterile environment, Devon lives in her own fairy tale world, filled with the obligatory fantasy elements of magic & witches. Her surpressed lust for life is let loose one afternoon as she ventures outside the high walls of the tightly secured & patrolled 'kingdom', with its uniformed houses, lawns, flower beds, sprinklers etc, all magnificently displayed in wide angle vistas through hazy sunlight, very Lynch-esque, with its juxtaposting of the seemingly orderly 'safe' suburban setting, against an underlying sinister tension. Outside she stumbles across the LM mans humble trailer dwelling in a forest clearing, & thus slowly begins the sadly misunderstood, but heartwarming & tender friendship between the two, that sees them on stolen moments & adventures, Devon experiencing the mischief & freedom sadly lacking from her self absorbed parents controll. What follows is secretive between the two, as the security guard warns Trent, "folks're nervous these days..you best keep to yourself.. if you know what I mean", as he continues to mow the lawns for the unappreciative & condescending residents, that bully taunt & blame him for any 'troubles' in the area. D & T find a deep connection in a world where they are the outsiders & have in particular one common 'mystery' experience that Devon holds dear.

As another reviewer mentioned, comparisons can be drawn to both A Beauty & Happiness, as similar issues are raised, although LD escapes all the bockbuster trappings of the former, and the more insincere 'attention grabbing' quality of the latter, & instead delivers a work of rare integrity & charm. I honestly cannot pick a fault here; the acting is flawless & Sam Rockwells (Trents') energetic performance steals the show. The storyline is well paced & moving. The cinematography with its combination of realism & surrealism, is simply enchanting & a joy to watch- loaded with symbolism; The slow motion close up of the lush lettuce leaf toppling down from the salad bowl, splashing beads of water sumptuously over the floor, as D mother has one of many 'quickie' sexual encounters with one of the local bullys; The white knee length socks with red ribbon trim left behind by D on her adventures, like a Hansel & Gretel / Red Riding Hood trail, with its connotations of childhood innocence & sexuality. The use of the American flag as a tragic symbol of a nation in 'ill health', & one of my faves, the use of Springsteens 'Dancing in the Dark', (that other side of America that speaks of freedom liberation & passion), as the two dance 'like no ones watching' on top of Trents batterd old pick up. And finally Devons midnight rooftop howl at the moon, as she discards her nighty in a display of unbridled abandon, - the camera following the white garment as it floats away against the light of the full moon.. Such qualities make it a film that can be enjoyed more than once, & reminded me of Neil Jordans 1984 'adult fantasy fairy tale' The Company of Wolves, with its take on girl to womanhood symbolism steeped in classic fairy tale literature.

The pace builds steadily to what culmanates in a finale (OH! & what a finale), that is both as tragic as it is uplifting, & as fantastical as it is believable.

This is truly a memorable film, worthy of all the festival awards it gained, including Cannes. Duigan has a gift for dealing with youthfull energy & innocence, conjuring up equal amounts of humour & charm. This is one of those 'lesser known masterpieces' that no one who enjoys film making @ its most sincere & tender should miss.
DEFINITELY WORTH OWNERSHIP.
I would also heartily recommend the equally brilliant The Year My Voice Broke & Walkabout.

lawn dogs
really good film.....looks quite uninteresting but is actually amazing andvery thought provoking...it was on tv a few months back n i watched it andhave been looking for the video ever since, but nowhere seems to have itfor some reason...EVERYONE should have it...immense