Watch A Dog Called Money

A Dog Called Money is a 2019 documentary film directed by Irish filmmaker Seamus Murphy, which follows the creative process of alternative rock musician PJ Harvey and her 2016 album The Hope Six Demolition Project. The film is a poetic mixture of footage shot during Harvey's travels to Kosovo, Afghanistan and Washington D.C., as well as her home recordings and rehearsals with producer John Parish.

As a longtime fan of PJ Harvey's music, Seamus Murphy approached her in 2015 with an idea of collaborating on a project that would combine his photography and her music. Instead, Harvey suggested they go on a journey together to places she had never been before, to see what could be found and felt. The result was a unique, adventurous and often uncomfortable experience, both for the musician and her team, and for Murphy and his camera.

At the core of A Dog Called Money is a series of songs that Harvey wrote in response to her impressions and reflections of the places she visited. Murphy's camera captures the inspiration and the research behind the songs, as well as the recording sessions at Somerset House in London, where Harvey and her band rehearsed behind one-way glass for the public to watch. The rehearsals were not just about getting the right performance, but also about experimenting with the sound, the voices and the instruments, and letting the songs evolve on their own.

One of the standout tracks in the album, and the film, is "The Community of Hope", a satirical critique of a gentrification project in Washington D.C. that Harvey and Murphy visited. The song's lyrics, which interview residents and officials of the affected neighborhoods, point to the hypocrisy and the disrespect of the project's planners and proponents, and the systemic inequalities that it perpetuates. The song's video, directed by Murphy, takes us on a haunting visual tour of the city's ruins and its new "hopeful" architecture.

Another track, "The Wheel", was written during Harvey's visit to Afghanistan, where she met with Afghan poets and musicians to discuss art, war and survival. Harvey's vocals, layered over the mesmerizing beat and melody of the qarqacha drum, take on an otherworldly quality, echoing the pain, the resilience and the beauty of the Afghan people. The video, directed by Murphy and Afghan filmmaker Aheed Omer, features close-ups of Afghan faces, both joyful and somber, intercut with glimpses of life on the streets and the mountains.

Throughout the film, Murphy's photography and his conversations with Harvey and her collaborators add another layer of insight and depth to the already powerful music. Murphy's cinematography ranges from the stark, black-and-white portraits of individuals, to the colorful, abstract landscapes of nature and society. His interviews with Harvey, Parish and others offer glimpses into their psyche, their vision and their process. Harvey's own voiceover musings, spoken to Murphy while travelling or recording, add a personal touch and a sense of intimacy to the film's abstract narrative.

A Dog Called Money is not just a music documentary, but a journey into the heart of darkness and light of human experience. It offers a glimpse of the creative process that drives an artist to explore, to challenge and to empathize. It also exposes the political and social realities that shape the artist's perspective, and vice versa. The film invites us to listen, to look and to feel, and to appreciate the power and the beauty of art in its many forms.

A Dog Called Money is a 2019 documentary. It has received mostly poor reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 6.6 and a MetaScore of 41.