OldBoy

Also known as: Hachiko: A Dog's Story

I believe this just went DTV in US, despite an excellent cast. This is based on a true story.

If you are an animal lover, especially dogs, see this movie. Very sweet, poignant tale about a man and his dog.

I don't want to give anything away, try not to read too much because I believe any synopsis is a spoiler just by nature of movie, and if you rent it, especially from Netflix, do not read the envelope. It IS a spoiler.

Richard Gere, Joan Allen, Sarah Roemer, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Jason Alexander.

Just rented and saw this and not a dry eye in the house. Very well done.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1028532/maindetails

EdTheRipper

Parts of that movie were filmed right here in my city. The train station is literally a two minute drive from my house.

I liked the movie quite a bit. It was much better than I was expecting it to be.

superdeluxe

EW gave the movie a A-.

I will definitely have to check this movie out.

OldBoy

exactly the reason i wanted to see.

mickey65

Yeah, I heard with this one you need a box of kleenex next to you.

I'm almost afraid to watch it after the intense crying jag I had over "Marley & Me" - which made me cry harder than any other movie I had ever seen.

islandclaws

I'm familiar with the real story. I'm marginally interested in seeing this.

whotony

I never heard of it but if and I'm just guessing.....


I can't do it.

islandclaws

^ Well, don't they all eventually? If the film adheres to the real story (and I can't see why it wouldn't) it's not what you think it is.

Troy Stiffler

Holy cow. This is like that episode of Futurama. I cried like a baby at the end of that episode.

Solid Snake

Hrm...I wiki'd this tale. Seems pretty cool. I like Japanese version better.

newginafets

Believe me.. it's not.

OldBoy

reminded me exactly of "Jurassic Bark".

this is much more real than Marley and Me and it is also very different. it is what M&M wished it could be. as mentioned, it isn't what you would think just because there is a dog.

Daytripper

Oh no. And here I was hoping this film was nothing like "Marley & Me" because I hated that movie. There really was no story there to begin with. But with two of film's most unappealing leads and a terrible director and script certainly didn't help. The death scene didn't even move me. And I'm the biggest dog person you will ever find.

Eddie W

This film is NOTHING like Marley & Me. It's actually good.

The Infidel

They showed that in the trailer.

GatorDeb

I added it my queue because it was in Redbox's Top 20 (easiest way to see new releases) and because of you I switched it to #1, so it better be good lol Hachi, Precious, and Hurt Locker. Comedy night !!

Geofferson

I wasn't even aware of it until I saw the EW article. Definitely on my must-see list.

mickey65

I watched this last night and thought it was a pretty good movie.

Apparently the dog had an agenda and altho a lot of people cared about him, they just left him alone to do what he felt he had to do and let him be. Altho it was sad that the dog wouldn't let himself "bond" with anyone else and have a better life for all those years he spent sitting outside that train station.

OldBoy

did anyone think that when Haichi...


someone else i spoke to took it as he was jealous when watching the family do the family thing in the house that night.

calhoun07

I don't know...I did think that. I wonder if that is an aspect they took from the real life account or if they added that for "movie magic."

And to those saying this is like Jurassic Bark on Futurama...not exactly. Jurassic Bark is also inspired by the real life story of this dog. Which was made into a movie in Japan in 1989 (and is not cheap to obtain on DVD!)

WARNING...this trailer for the movie contains plot points that may be spoilers to the American version if you are not familiar with this story!
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/P3s11acb7Z8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/P3s11acb7Z8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

I thought the movie was above and beyond Marley and Me. Marley and Me played to the masses and was a spoon fed dog story. This actually really made me care for the dog in the story. There were some inconsistencies in the movie that bugged me and I found out later on that these were plot points in the Japanese version but for some reason changed or left out in the American version. That kind of disappointed me, but over all I would give the movie a B+. It would be an easy A or A+ if they hadn't changed a few things to get it a short running time in America.

And I probably cried harder at the end of this movie than any other movie I saw. I don't have an Akita...I have a Golden Retriever...but my dog "picked" me much in the same way the Akita in this movie picked his owner. It's like Hachi found his owner, not the other way around, and I always felt the same way about my dog, so it really hit home when I watched this.

Then I watched the Japanese animated movie Dog of Flanders the next day and that did it in for me... The Japanese always make the saddest dog movies I have ever seen.

hippie68

After reading this thread I decided to put in on my Netflix. Just finished watching it and I have never cried so hard during a movie in my life. I had no idea it was a based on a true story so when I saw that the tears started all over again.

mickey65

Marley & Me really did it for me.

Cardiac161

Don't know if you've seen Quill but did it for me as well. Couldn't watch doggie-drama films anymore after that...

calhoun07

I may have to check it out. I found a region one version with English on the cover...the movie is in Japanese with English subs. Is it bootleg? I saw a ton of region three versions on Yesasia and other sites.

OldBoy

man, that song in the trailer did it for me. looked every bit as good, if not better than the English version. and i had no idea "Jurassic Bark" was based on this as well. so glad i dl'd that ep. from iTunes. very well done.

i don't think Hachi and Marley & Me should even be mentioned in the same sentence. like you said cal, that was made for the masses and very Hollywood-ized. this was small, simple and extremely poignant on every level.