Sleeping Ruff

On the face of it, this is a film about homeless people in Edinburgh and the strong bonds they form with their dogs. But really, it’s a film about love and a very charming one at that.

Unvarnished by emotionally manipulative music, unencumbered by the standard documentary trajectory of struggle and redemption and resisting the temptation to include a voiceover telling us what to think, director Susi Arnott simply lets her subjects talk. Their stories are a window into a world that most of us will never be unlucky enough to know first hand, but we’d all be better for understanding it.

It’s a world of violence, addiction and mental illness. But the succour the likes of Chris, Ross, John and Chrissie get from their dogs is, in some cases, the only thing keeping them alive. A short film that packs a deceptively heavy punch.