If Boston was the keg-guzzlin’, Celtics-stamped son-boy of New England, Portland is the well-mannered younger sibling working as a pediatric nurse on the weekdays and making pumpkin spice pancakes on the weekends. None of these descriptors are transparently related to Matt Cascella’s Hangdog, which is about a small-town odyssey set in Maine, but whether you’ve been to Portland or had initially thought of the Portland on the other side of the country, the outer view of Portland as a supposed seasonal town plays an important part of its depiction in this movie.
Walt (Desmin Borges) is the titular Homeric hangdog – the face of depressive response to change – who must come to terms with moving from Silicon Valley to the dry, cold town of Portland. Coupled with his partner Wendy (Kelly O’Sullivan), who has been excelling in her business and seems to hold the zest for life in this relationship, Walt’s sad-sack temperament is only aggrandized by his directionless aim in his career and the creeping threat of Wendy’s dog Tony taking up a lot of emotional and physical presence wedged between them.
Wendy leaves Walt and Tony for a short business trip, which is then followed by the inevitable event of Walt losing Tony while going for a walk. Sometimes it’s the panicked possibility of losing something or someone of value that we didn’t understand before that pushes us out of a funk, even if it’s not the kind of creative motivation that we’re looking for. In this case, Walt straightens his slump back and begins his frenzied search for Tony. He designs missing flyers advertising a monetary reward for finding Tony while trying to keep it a secret from Wendy.
Hangdog fits in the species of finding magic in small-town crevices and alleys, but it also doesn’t feel like it’s trying to place Portland on the map as a quirky, best-kept secret. As someone who is familiar with Portland as a quiet, ocean-breeze/wider-sidewalk respite, the film also makes it feel important to show that the town still breathes after the screeching halt of summertown madness, where people are still bustling around and getting by in well-worn LL Bean boots. Walt has meaningful conversations with people he comes across in his search, which is the contrast to the attitude he has in the beginning of the film. In one early scene, Walt applies to work at a mussel factory. Presuming that he’ll get the job, Walt gives half-assed answers to his interviewer, who then leads him to a room where fifth-generation workers and research students are up to their elbows in mollusks.
Though the film doesn’t dive headfirst into explosive climaxes or realizations, it is only reflective of the kind of adventure one might have in a place like this. Walt will metaphorically eat shit along the way, but it’s for the best. Hangdog is the kind of film that makes you feel hopeful when things don’t go according to plan and cozy in the world of disappointment and misguided intentions.
Hangdog
2023
dir. Matt Cascella
91 min.
Now available digitally and on demand.