A Letter To True (2003)

50% of critics liked it
(32 reviews)
29% of users liked it
(66 ratings)

Photographer and filmmaker Bruce Weber has often made his enthusiasms and obsessions a part of his work, and he introduces the world to several of the great loves of his life -- his dogs -- in this feature-length documentary. A Letter to True takes the form of an open letter to True, Weber's Golden… More Photographer and filmmaker Bruce Weber has often made his enthusiasms and obsessions a part of his work, and he introduces the world to several of the great loves of his life -- his dogs -- in this feature-length documentary. A Letter to True takes the form of an open letter to True, Weber's Golden Retriever, in which he discusses why he loves True and his other dogs, allowing some of his friends to share their own feelings about their pets. Along the way, Weber also writes about how he was impacted by the attacks of September 11, 2001, his admiration for the late photojournalist Larry Burrows, and how he became involved using his talents to aid Haitian refugees. Weber's relationship with his dogs, however, remains the film's focal point and he includes narration from Julie Christie and vocals from Marianne Faithful to accompany his footage of canines in their element. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 18 min.
Directed By: Bruce Weber
Written By: Bruce Weber, Chin-yen Yee
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

In Theaters: Jan 7, 2004 Wide
Studio: Zeitgeist Films

Critic Reviews

Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times
What at first glance seem like random episodes involving animals are actually lyrical impressions connected by the idea of unconditional love.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
This is an elegant junk drawer of a movie, and the junkiest aspect is Weber's wooly-minded sentimentality about his pampered, shampooed, fussed-over pooches, which receive better medical attention than the poor Haitians he briefly frets about.
Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle
A collage of everything that's important to Weber. But what's important to a rich, successful photographer/filmmaker with time and money on his hands is not necessarily important to anyone else.
Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
Even dog lovers, who will no doubt be entranced by the undeniable charms of Weber's frisky menagerie of pooches, will ultimately wish that he had extended his efforts on a coffee-table photography book rather than this confused cinematic tone poem.
Leslie Felperin, Variety
A richly textured collage held together by free association, a pic that's pleasing to look at, but never forms a coherent picture.
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
About as exciting as watching someone else's home movies -- albeit, beautifully photographed ones.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
Fascinating just as a microcosm of one man's personality and life.
Nigel Andrews, Financial Times
If this epistolary documentary - voiced aloud with pictures to the photographer/film-maker's favourite pup and co-canines - meandered any more than it does, it could be arrested for vagrancy.
Tim Evans, Sky Movies
It remains eminently watchable and there's no doubting the affection Weber feels for his chums, pedigree or otherwise.
Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
It's as precious and disarming as Weber's films always are, albeit with even more slo-mo shots of wet mutts at the seaside than usual.
Andrew Pulver, Guardian [UK]
Few film-makers would try anything so definitively personal; Weber doesn't always get away with it, but what emerges here is always interesting. And nicely shot, too.
Kevin Maher, Times [UK]
The film, a rambling love-letter to Weber's favourite doggy, True, crudely interweaves the photographer's usual obsessions - tough, shirtless boys and faded Hollywood stars - with meaningless ruminations how, like, war is really bad.
Paul Fairclough, Time Out
Weber's mythologising of American loss of innocence (what, again?) and his homilies on world peace play on tired liberal totems like Martin Luther King and John Lennon and sit uncomfortably with an over-arching sense of sentimental nationalism.
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
If you don't have a dog waiting for you at home after seeing A Letter to True, you'll want one.
Phoebe Flowers, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
[A] lovely, evocative documentary.
Evan Henerson, Los Angeles Daily News
Weber is a sly raconteur with great names to drop, and his doggie footage is a kick.
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul), St. Paul Pioneer Press
Like a blog, True is a rambling discourse into the heart and mind of its creator, a series of disassociated musings that aren't intended for a wide audience.
Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly
While Weber's voice-over throughout the film often strains for profundity on subjects such as 9/11 and the Iraq War, he's concise and on point in relating Bogarde and Forwood's love story.
Susan Green, Boxoffice Magazine
More a quasi-autobiographical meditation than a conventional documentary, A Letter to True continues Bruce Weber's scrapbook approach to cinema.
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
...the disjointed nature of the work [of A Letter to True] kept me from embracing it.

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