There’s something about this film that makes it feel a bit like Best in Show with the biggest difference being that the dogs in this movie are dead. I enjoyed Best in Show and Mighty Wind, and I enjoy this documentary; even though Lifelike is the only serious documentary out of the three, it fits in in style.

Janie is the one that really sells the mockumentary feel, as she appears over the top in her portrayal of herself, with her doting attention to the corpse of her dog. It gets creepier when she takes Wonder the Freeze Dried Dog home to meet the replacement dog… the live dog seems a bit freaked out; “You’re going to do this to me too, aren’t you?”

In addition to the drying of Wonder, we see two novice taxidermists preparing their exhibits for their first competition at the Canadian Taxidermy Championships. Taxidermy jokes are about as funny to non-taxidermists as math jokes are to most of the world, this is a funny little film.

It’s a bit creepy, and a bit strange, but an excellent hour long doc. Makes for an interesting pair, as it’s screening with A Perfect Fake which is a film about sex dolls.