Puppy (2005)

AKA: –
Directed by: Kieran Galvin
Starring: Nadia Townsend (Liz), Bernard Curry (Aiden), Susan Ellis (Helen), Terence Donovan (Doctor)
Country: Australia; Effed Up Australian Movies
Language: English (Optional Eng Subs)
Runtime: 01:34:35
Genres: Captivity-Kidnapping, Mental Illness, Self-Harm

Plot – Spoilers:
Aiden spots Liz at a store and later sees her trying to kill herself. So he partypoops her suicide attempt, takes her home located in the middle of nowhere and holds her captive under the watch of two adorable dogs. He also constantly calls her Helen, the name of his wife.

Liz is coming from a fucked up situation herself. She watched her kid brother throw himself off a building, ran over her sister’s dog and got thrown out of their flat, not necessarily on account of the dog. So Liz is kind of ok with anything that happens in her life. Well maybe not all ok, but at least she’s not hysterical when she awakens to her new fate with Aiden.

Liz has a few things going for her though. She’s smart and though she feels intimidated by Aiden’s quiet aggression, she’s not flustered by his bizarre behaviour and has enough of her wits about her to know he’s probably unhinged and that she shouldn’t go blind into an escape plan, but instead bide her time. She’s also manipulative – for the longest while, she’d used her charms on her brother-in-law to keep him on her side – now, this trait could turn out quite useful. But most of all, she can lie with a straight face.

But Aiden isn’t just sitting by, watching Liz being cheered on into escape by the viewer. He seems pretty sly too. He’ll play unhinged, but only up to a point. The moment it tips over to her possibly outwitting him, he can quickly switch back to making a very sane and well-thought-out decision.

It’s cat and mouse. Who’s gonna make it…

Trivia:
Director Kieran Galvin also wrote Feed.

Please note:
wrt the optional English subs available, the timing isn’t great. Too many mistakes, too much of a hassle, so corrected minimally.