In ‘Heart of a Dog,’ Anderson tries to make sense of it all

In ‘Heart of a Dog,’ Anderson tries to make sense of it all

In the stringent, limited genres of the film world, file Laurie Anderson’s “Heart of a Dog” under documentary, but that seems to miss the point.

Ostensibly, the film by the noted musician and performance artist is about her dear departed dog, Lolabelle, who helped Anderson get through 9/11 among other things.

[...] death has been on Anderson’s mind lately; in recent years she has lost her mother — with whom she had a complicated relationship — and her husband, Lou Reed (the film is dedicated to the musician, who died in 2013).

What is the last thing you say before you turn to dirt? Anderson intones in almost Terrence Malick-like fashion against a backdrop of lovely, fragmented images.

[...] her spoken words attempt to make sense of the past, but her images — home movie footage mixed with poetic shots gathered later — are forward-thinking.

Lolabelle was a rat terrier who thrived in New York City’s West Village, which has the highest concentration of dogs in Manhattan (Julian Schnabel is a neighbor), and in trips to Northern California.