REVIEWS

"Stray Dog is valuable in many ways — as the sympathetic documentation of a family’s perseverance in hard times; as an example of compassionate cinéma vérité; as a chance to spend time with some very interesting people — but perhaps its greatest virtue lies in its powerful, implicit challenge to the lazy habit of looking at American life through polarized red- and blue-tinted lenses."
A.O. Scott, The New York Times - July 2, 2015

"Novelistic in its depth and breathtaking in its humanity."
Bilge Ebiri, Vulture - July 5, 2015

"A stirring, surprising, empathic portrait of a Harley-riding trailer-court king."
Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice - June 30, 2015

"Winter's Bone director Debra Granik provides plenty of surprises in her superb slice of American life on the margins...In an era when many coastal Americans’ ideas of the heartland poor come from hicksploitation TV series, Stray Dog provides a very welcome corrective."
Andrew Barker, Variety - June 19, 2014

"Sympathetic without being sentimental or condescending, Stray Dog is an enormously touching, understated look at an aging Vietnam veteran still wrestling with the invisible scars of a war that took place some 40 years ago. This documentary, the first from Winter’s Bone filmmaker Debra Granik, utilises an observational, unobtrusive style that reaps major rewards, offering a casual glimpse into a series of lives on the margins of American society, touching on family, faith, love and survival with an effortless grace."
Tim Grierson, Screen International - June 14, 2014

"Granik skillfully manipulates and builds the narrative, revealing more and more elements of Stray Dog’s life along the way. It’s a remarkable feat of unfolding this story, a remarkable portrait not only of this particular man, but of a culture in a transitioning moment. As we welcome home even more generations of traumatized soldiers, it’s the Vietnam vets that we have to look to to understand how this will affect these men and women down the road."
Katie Walsh, indieWIRE - June 16, 2014

"Whenever someone asks what I mean when I say that too many docs look and feel the same, I can say, “None of them are like Stray Dog.” This is a film that blows apart your preconceived notions of how a documentary can be put together. It is a perfectly told story with vivid characters, an acute sense of place and many marvelous emotional beats. At every turn, Stray Dog proves himself to be more than you think he is. The same is true of this film, which is a series of simple events that amount to an incredibly complex whole."
Dan Schindel, Nonfics - June 17, 2014

"The clear-eyed film dedicates itself to breaking through the debris of clichéd, one-dimensional public impressions of vets, bikers, immigrant wives and kids and trailer-park lifestyles as it fashions an involving portrait of a deeply scarred man sustained by certain rituals and an unextinguished sense of empathy for others’s problems."
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter - June 14, 2014

"Beautifully shot and edited with all the flow of a feature fictional film, Stray Dog feels truer than our own judgements...Stray Dog is an essential highlight of the NYFF documentary program. It vibrantly encompasses the themes of middle American poverty, immigration, the changing times, the unchanging tragedies, the complex feelings of loss, disorientation, mourning, confusion, anger and finally, some sort of redemption. ."
Marina Galperina, Animal New York - September 19, 2014

"In its quiet, vérité way, Stray Dog ponders some of the major issues in American life: the lasting impact of wars on those who fight them; the government’s treatment of veterans, whose lives remain largely absent from public view; and the difficulties of immigration and assimilation. It’s a film that starts as a character study and builds into something much larger. It seems likely to linger in the mind as the festival wears on."
Ben Kenigsberg, A.V. Club - September 19, 2014

"By focusing on Ron Hall’s experience, Stray Dog ends up being “about” a lot of topics: veteran’s affairs and welfare; post-traumatic stress disorder; aging; changing definitions of “family” and “masculinity”; immigration, language and, well, the American Dream."
James Kreul, Madison Film Forum - September 25, 2014

"Granik has a bona fide star in Hall, whose hirsute appearance and occasionally gruff demeanor mask his overall sensitivity and salt-of-the-earth compassion."
Eric Ambler, Screen Invasion - June 20, 2014

"Stray Dog is proof that the universal lies within the specific. By simply spending time with one man with our eyes and ears open, we can learn untold volumes about the world at large. Granik’s film is the single best that I’ve seen so far this year."
David Bax, Battleship Pretension - June 17, 2014