Eyes of a Blue Dog, written and directed by Araik Zulalyan, follows an unnamed man (Oleg Baipakov) haunted by recurring visions of a mysterious woman (Alexandra Nekrasov). He cannot remember where or how they met, only that she feels vividly real, as though she exists just beyond the boundary of his waking life. His obsession grows as he sees her in dreams so intense that they overwhelm him physically, even causing him to faint. In these visions, the woman hints that he may suffer from an illness like leukemia, blurring the line between dream and reality.
“…an unnamed man haunted by recurring visions of a mysterious woman…”
The man becomes fixated on the phrase “Eyes of a Blue Dog,” repeating and scrawling it everywhere in the hope that she might one day see it and recognize him. Araik Zulalyan discusses his film as an adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’s short story, utilizing dreamlike cinematography and surreal imagery to explore themes of longing, memory, and solitude. Told without visual effects, it portrays the fragile boundary between inner desire and the outside world, leaving the audience to wonder whether the woman is real or simply a figment of his imagination.
The highly experimental film, Eyes of a Blue Dog, succeeds in drifting us between the worlds of dreams and reality. It uses imagery effectively to build a story surrounding our hero and drawing us into a world of confusion. You’ll walk away feeling as if you were in a fever dream.
"…longing, memory, and solitude collide in haunting imagery."
