Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog (2004)

Beautiful, moving film.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Now THIS is the kind of movie that Disney should be producing... Something with a positive message that doesn't necessarily further the interests of the Military Entertainment Complex. The idea of "skin-ship" (the "sharing of feelings through physical contact") is EXACTLY the kind of message kids need these days, especially when electronics and "virtual reality" have all but made contact between people (much less people and animals other than house pets) a rarity. (Of course, such contact entails risk, as I found out this past summer. I went to a shelter- which WASN'T a "no-kill" facility- and adopted a pair of kittens. Unfortunately, there were far more cats there than we could possibly afford to adopt- and three days is the "limit" there-, including playful triplets and, sadly, an older cat who was sent to the shelter by a dying man in the hopes that she would be adopted. As if THAT weren't heartbreaking enough, a neighborhood cat gave birth to more than half a dozen kittens- on my back porch or under the house- who proceeded to succumb, one by one, to the relentless HEAT here. I called every single "cat-friendly" organization in town to try to get help, but none of them- not ONE- could (or WOULD) do a thing. So I spent every morning finding and bagging these small, dehydrated bodies... until they were all gone. Contact entails risk, but I think I've come to understand at least one thing: it's only LOVE that makes Life worth living.)

Quill, is a story about a dog's life who seems to born to be a guide dog. The movie shows the process of being a guide dog from a puppy to an adult dog, it has lots of touching moments thats connects with the characters of the story.I had read the book before watching this film, the story really touched me and the movie was a well adapted from the book itself, i cried a lot while i was watching it.The trustworthy bonding between human and dogs are very presented in this film.Overall, it's a very worth watching film whether you read the book or not, but of cause, if you are a dogs lover, i'll say go for it then.. ;)

One day in Tokyo a litter of golden Labrador retrievers were born in the home of a woman named Mito and amongst these puppies was one who had a bird-shaped birthmark on his belly. It is this puppy that will one day be named Quill. For some reason or another, Ms. Mito wants her puppies to become Seeing Eye dogs, however, because their mother is from an unspectacular background, Mr. Tawada, the manager of a school that trains seeing eye dogs refuses to accept Ms. Mito's puppies. However, after days and days of repeatedly calling, Mr. Tawada finally gives in and says that he will take in one of the puppies.After learning of a way to test to see which puppy will be selected, Ms. Mito calls the puppies over to her and only Quill hesitates when called and because of this he is the one who passes the test, because a seeing eye dog most not rush at the slightest provocation. After proving his ability, Quill is sent to the home of Isamu and Mitsuko Nii where he receives his name, lots of love and attention, and the ability to completely trust humans.After spending a year at the Nii's, Quill is sent to Mr. Tawada's school where he begins his training. A bit slower than other dogs, Quill shows remarkable patience and is willing to wait extraordinarily long periods of time when told to do so. Having discovered Quill's patience, Mr. Tawada pairs the dog up with a man named Watanabe Mitsuru, a man who does not want to rely on anyone, human or animal, to aid him with his disability. However, through a few humorous exchanges, man and dog become friends and soon become almost inseparable. Yet, their days ahead are not just full of days walking in the sunshine and visiting shrines.Yes Quill is a movie about the relationship between a dog and his master and yes it does have some ultra saccharine moments, however, it does not fall into the trap of being a complete sap fest. Each stage of Quill's life, at Ms. Mito's home, The Niis' home, with Mr. Tawada, at Mr. Watanabe's home, is handled delicately and the viewer gets to see the time and care used in training these special animals that aid people. Beautifully scored, Quill will touch the hearts of animal lovers the world over and will also make audiences buy boxes of tissues.

Spoilers This little movie has attracted a lot of attention in town, hitting #2 in the box office last week. Local film critics, the lazy ones at least, have resorted to saying things like `have lots of tissue ready' or some such cliché. Truth of the matter is, this one is not a tear-jerker.If anything, Quill is more like a documentary, a slightly dramatized documentary similar to Touching the Void. Without the contrived, crafted emotional bumps seen often in Hollywood flicks, this Japanese film takes us gently along the life of Quill, the seeing-eye dog, through many partings: with his original parents, `adopted' parents, trainer, and finally `partner'. Sharing with Quill his small, humble moments of joy and sadness, we also come to understand a little more the role of a seeing-eye dog. We are reminded of the inevitability of death, but also the zest and joy of living. In the end, without the help of stultified tear-jerking formula, our eyes would maybe moist a little at the friendship between a man and a dog.One inconsequential note on the background music. In the scene of the man and the dog going for a final walk together, the background music is the beautiful Bach-Gounod's version of Ave Maria (hope I got this right). Just by sheer coincidence, I recently watched Raging Bull, in which the same piece of music is used in the opening credit, with markedly different effects.