A Letter to Who?

So there's this guy named Bruce Weber. Nicole tells me that he is a famous photographer. A famous fashion photographer - Calvin Klein, Vanity Fair, that sort of fare.

Well, last night we went to see a movie by this chap, and I must say - he is a good photographer, but a horrible philosopher.

The movie was calld "A Letter to True." True is one of Weber's five golden retrievers, with whom he share what appeared to be a lovely Hampton's beach cottage. The film was billed as follows:

A LETTER TO TRUE is a stunning look at the affection, loyalty, and unconditional love displayed by [dogs] – which the filmmaker sees as a metaphor for peace and hope in the world.

Amen! I was pretty excited about seeing that, and it was no letdown visually. Unfortunately, the story was more a labor of self-love than animal love.

It seemed to me that the "letter" which Weber wrote to True was more a justification for the years he has spent away from the dogs on the road. Photographing Haitian refugees, male models and Elizabeth Taylor, all lovely people I'm sure. But instead of trying to find any sort of dog-style loyalty in these situations, it seemd that Weber was struggling to make his life's work mean something siginigant - to justify himself to his dog.

Toward the end of the film, he even got to talking about death, rolling out a long clip from a Martin Luther King Jr. speech. King talks at length about wanting to be remebered not for his Noebel Prize or where he went to college, but for serving others. I may be a cynic, but it sure looked like Weber was trying to tell his poor unsuspecting dogs that he was out serving others all those years while he was photographing nearly nude men, selling Calvin Klein perfume and making sure Elizabeth Taylor looked good for Vanity Fair, all before retiring to his Hampton's beach home. MLKjr. would be proud, I'm sure.

One more dissapointment. The elephant pictured in the movie poster above - they only trot him out for the closing credits. They must have rented that guy from Barnum and Bailey. How else do you get a haggered old elephant to lounge about and do tricks on a beach in the Hamptons?