Synopsis

After her father's death, Mona Peek withdraws from work, family, and intimacy. When her childhood home is about to be sold, she makes an impulsive visit there while searching New York City for her lost wallet. Her journey brings encounters with lonely strangers, unusual coincidences, and animated beings that blur the boundary between grief, memory, and imagination.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film combines live action with hand-drawn animation, using animated, shape-shifting dogs as a poetic Greek chorus.

• The idea had been developing since 2000 and grew out of the short film Pigeon Within, which explored overlapping realities and a woman's inner doubts.

• The animated dogs were not part of the original concept. They were added during production to help present the film's poems in a more playful way.

• The project had a strong family connection. Ray Hubley edited the film, paintings by the filmmaker's mother appeared in the production design, and the soundtrack was supplied by Yo La Tengo, whose drummer and songwriter is the filmmaker's sister.

• The film premiered at the 2008 South by Southwest Film Festival and later received a New York opening through the Museum of Modern Art's New Directors/New Films program.

• Its unusual mixture of experimental animation, melancholy, poetry, and understated comedy places it closer to an independent art film than to a conventional narrative drama.