William Wegman's Alphabet Soup (1995)

Chundo loves milk. Mmmmmm.... Milk!

We've all seen William Wegman's photos of his Weimaraners dressed as humans. Some of them are quite famous and hang in the Museum of Modern Art, even. I've always thought they were stupid and never cared to look into them. I suppose I first saw them in the mid-90s, about the time this movie was released, but as an angry teenager, this was as far away from my interests as you could get. Last week my friend Paul sent me a package with some of his band's records and some other things - including two of William Wegman's DVDs. I just assumed he sent them as a joke, but decided to watch them anyway. I'm so happy I did.

Wegman was an art student in the 1960s and holds degrees in painting. After seeing people's interest in visual art declining, he started doing video experiments with a camera he stole/borrowed from the university. The dog he bought for his wife kept interrupting the floor scenes he was doing, so he eventually started incorporating him into his works. Eventually Man Ray (named after the great "dada" artist) became the focus of most of his works and the rest is history.

"Alphabet Soup" is a delightful 30 minute short with Fay Ray and her three pups (Batty, Crooky and Chundo) physically forming each letter of the alphabet, acting out scenes, then making alphabet soup with ingredients representing each letter. The narration is genuinely funny and most of the time completely absurd. Wegman's Sahara-dry sense of humor mixed with dogs dressed in costumes yields some bizarre results. This is low budget stuff produced for children aged 3 and up, but I was completely captivated by it the entire time. I hate to make the comparison because they're completely different in content, but this plays like a wholesome, well-made version of Len Cella's "Moron Movies", but with way better editing and for preschoolers. I can't even begin to imagine how much work it must have been to set up these shots. The whole thing is very surreal and has to be seen to be appreciated. It's important to note that at no point did it seem as if the dogs were stressed or having a bad time of it. In an interview I watched today after viewing this DVD, Wegman said the shots usually lasted around 30 seconds each and the dogs were free to do what they wanted to the rest of the time. Unlike those horrid "Dogville" shorts from the 1930s, these pooches seem to be okay with all of this nonsense. 

There's really nothing to compare this to as it's completely in a class of it's own, so I have no choice but to give it the highest possible rating. It deserves that rating, though. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed something as much as this and so unexpectedly. As soon as I was done watching this, I was online looking for more of his stuff. I can't wait to watch the other DVD Paul sent me now.

5/5