Dogpound Shuffle

In Vancouver, rasping Irish bum (Moody) loses his little old terrier Spot, and can't fork up the thirty dollars to get the mutt out of the dog-pound, but eventually raises the money in a rather enchanting way. Despite this gooey storyline, the movie has a good bit of guts, and the director/producer/writer shows a nice talent for wittily depicting life's seamier side: there's a brief moment in a rock-bottom café where Moody digs into a cesspit masquerading as a bowl of soup, and a hearty off-screen cougher turns out to be the cook; scenes in the dog-pound bristle with well-modulated violence and general unpleasantness. Moody's acting is agreeably restrained, as is the dog's.