Open, honest communication is a tenet of queer community. Or, at least, saying the phrase “open, honest communication” is a tenet of queer community. Henry Hanson’s new film Dog Movie is about this contradiction.

Dog Movie is about t4t vegan couple Arrow (Marten Katze) and Haven (Jessi Gaston) who have been letting their friend Bloo (Milo Talwani) sleep on their couch for far too long. Bloo would be a nightmare housemate if they were contributing to the rent, but as a houseguest they’re even worse. They have taken over the entire living room with their mess, they spend all day smoking weed, and they interrupt Haven’s work-from-home focus.

But then Arrow and Haven inherit an old dog named Blue. And while they may be too conflict avoidant to assert their needs with Human Bloo, Dog Blue does not have that problem. If Dog Blue wants to sleep on the couch, he’s just going to sleep on the couch.

Low-budget with dialogue improvised or written by the actor saying it, Dog Movie has a messy punk quality that fits the community it’s portraying. Almost the entire film takes place in the house and it has a casual, lived-in feel that increases the claustrophobia. For its hour-long runtime, Bloo is all of our housemate.

Whether poking fun at Arrow and Haven’s conflict avoidance or Bloo’s obliviousness, Dog Movie is really, really funny. There are some great in-community jokes like Haven reading Conflict Is Not Abuse before bed and a lot of sharp cringe comedy. The dog and houseguest having the same name also leads to some of the film’s funniest moments, as well as operating as a perfect metaphor.

At times, it feels like the premise would’ve been better served as a long short rather than a short feature, but by the end the length worked for me. The cyclical conversations and the repetition of Bloo’s behavior should feel tiresome. It’s an effective approach for the film to flirt with overstaying its welcome as its character does the same.

Dog Movie is an astute portrayal of very recognizable queer people, a subcommunity that has largely not been shown in cinema. This is less an issue about representation and more an issue of waste — Hanson reveals here just how much comic and narrative potential exists in these stories. Their previous film Bros Before is one of the best trans shorts I’ve seen in the past few years and it’s so exciting to watch their sharp comic voice expand in this longer work. Let Bloo live with you for an hour. It’ll be worth it.

Dog Movie is now available to rent.

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