The Dogfriend
2021 · 14m
Directed by Fredgy Noël
Genres: dark comedy, drama, fantasy
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, whimsical
Struck by pandemic loneliness, a young woman wishes her dog would become her boyfriend — then endures the consequences when her wish comes true.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A wish-fulfillment premise that immediately subverts itself into something genuinely unsettling—the joke isn't 'dog boyfriend,' it's watching someone reckon with the exact consequences of her loneliness made literal. Noël's refusal to play it cute is what makes it work.
The film situates itself somewhere between Kaufman's body-horror whimsy and the darker fabulism of contemporary genre cinema, with formal control evident in how it holds tone between absurdist and heartbreaking without letting either collapse into the other.
The real move here is the performance choice—the actress commits to the emotional logic of the premise without winking, which lets the absurdity land as genuine pathos rather than gimmick; that single decision makes the entire 14 minutes resonate.
Reviews
"The Dogfriend" is a careful-what-you-wish for dark comedy about the monster that is straight, cis, white male privilege (when gone unchecked!) and equally a story about the various cycles and iterations of loss. Ultimately, it's about a woman who chooses herself, despite the enormous fear of being a woman alone.