Every heart has an awakening. Every soul needs a song.
Hounddog mdcea stdrylena. Lewellen lives with her stern, religious grandmother, Grannie, who has taken it upon herself to raise the girl, as neither of Lewellen’s parents can provide her a stable home. Her father, Lou, loves her and tries to please her, giving her gifts such as Elvis Presley recordings.
Although he battles with alcoholism, he tries his best to give Lewellen a stable home. He even tries to provide a motherly figure in Lewellen’s life by dating a mysterious girlfriend, Ellen, who promised one night to rescue Lewellen from life in the rural South should the relationship falter. We later learn that Ellen is in fact Lewellen’s aunt, her mother’s sister.
Lewellen is able to maintain her innocence by finding consolation in playing with her best friend Buddy, idling away her last pre-teen summer with typical outdoor rural pastimes such as swimming in the pond and exploring the woods, meeting a new friend, Grasshopper, while spending the summer with her grandparents. Lewellen is enchanted by her idol, Elvis Presley, who is making a homecoming tour in the South.
Her town is one of the venue stops. Lewellen finds that singing Elvis’ music is a way to channel her trauma into something constructive and creative. Charles (Afemo Omilami) acts as a mentor, imparting wisdom of his snake handler religion to explain this emotional channelling to her — in other words, how to create something positive out of something venomous and deadly.
Lewellen is challenged by many problems besides living in a “broken home”. Ellen leaves one day and breaks Lewellen’s heart, burdening her with the responsibility to be a “mother” despite not having one herself. Her father suffers a terrible accident, and is handicapped to the point of infantile retardation, but the thought of Elvis coming to town gives her the resolve to carry on despite this newest of many traumatic circumstances. Buddy tells Lewellen that Wooden’s Boy has an Elvis ticket and is willing to give it to her if she does her Elvis dance for him naked. When she finds out the deal, she questions doing such an act for a moment. She then agrees to do so, before Wooden’s Boy rapes her.
The sexual assault causes life-threatening emotional trauma, that manifests as an illness. Her loved ones, Charles and Grannie, are distressed by her sudden decline in health. In fits of feverish illness, she hallucinates she is being attacked by venomous snakes, and she also vomits after church. Enraged by hearing the cause of Lewellen’s descent into figurative hell, Charles resolves to rescue his young friend from the depths of despair and tries to help her reclaim her stolen paralyzed voice by encouraging her to sing “Hound Dog”. He nurses her back to health. Ellen soon returns to the town to keep her promise to Lewellen. Lewellen bids farewell to her father and departs for a better life with her new mother.
Hounddog is a 2007 coming-of-age drama film written, directed, and produced by Deborah Kampmeier and starring Dakota Fanning, Isabelle Fuhrman, Robin Wright Penn, and Piper Laurie, among others. It is also Isabelle Fuhrman’s debut film. Penn also serves as an executive producer. The film was produced by Raye Dowell, Jen Gatien, and Terry Leonard. It premiered in competition at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and was given a limited release in 11 North American theaters on September 19, 2008
Hounddog (2008)
Directed by: Deborah Kampmeier
Starring: Oliver Clayton-Luce, Dakota Fanning, Isabelle Fuhrman, Cody Hanford, Piper Laurie, David Morse, Robin Wright Penn, Chandler McIntyre, Afemo Omilami, Charlie Lucas
Screenplay by: Deborah Kampmeier
Production Design by: Tim Grimes
Cinematography by: Jim Denault, Edward Lachman
Film Editing by: Sabine Hoffman
Costume Design by: Leigh Leverett
Art Direction by: William G. Davis
Music by: Gisburg Smialek
MPAA Rating: R for for a disturbing sexual assault of a young girl, and brief sexuality.
Distributed by: Empire Film Group
Release Date: September 19, 2008
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