Why do cat movies outnumber dog movies in Japan? For one thing, more cats than dogs are kept as pets here (9.64 million versus 8.49 million, according to a 2020 survey), and cat photos inundate social media.
Tetsuo Shinohara’s “Inubu: The Dog Club,” a broad-stroke cinematic love letter to canines everywhere, tries to hit the sweet spot between heartwarming entertainment and impassioned advocacy, though it’s not about to redress the cat-dog imbalance.
Drawing from a Yuka Katano novel based on true events, the film spotlights the horrible conditions at puppy mills and euthanasia at government-run animal shelters, while not framing the people who work at these places as villains. And though shouty and tearful in the well-trod ways of Japanese melodrama, “Inubu” tells home truths about the barriers its reforming protagonist and his allies face, their own physical and financial limits among them. Call it advocacy entertainment, with a clarion bark and realistic bite.