Matthew Lax

A shot-for-shot reimagining of the opening credits and climax of Yasujirō Ozu’s Tokyo Story (1953). Re-setting the scene in Los Angeles and recasting Noriko and Kyoko with two Japanese actors performing in drag, the film interrogates notions of language and cultural memory in split screen Japanese and English versions (with literal translations of the original dialogue into English subtitles and literal translations of the English subtitles from the Criterion version back into Japanese).

A silent essay considers the legacy of Robert Flaherty’s 1922 documentary, Nanook of the North (also known as, A Story of Life and Love in the Actual Arctic). An image by an Inuk artist is discovered “missing” from the Museum of Modern Art collection.

A Tired Dog is a Good Dog, Part One explores animal husbandry from the perspective of a quadruplet raised in a dog breeding family. Incorporating original footage and family archive, the film analyses canine behaviour, humans playing as dogs through kink, and his own identity.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, 23 million American households adopted pets, reflecting the growing urge for animal companions. The evolving, yet complex bond between humans and animals lies at the core of Artist in Focus Matthew Lax’s AN ANIMATED DOG READS JOHN BERGER, HARAWAY, AND KAFKA which explores the complexities of human-dog relationships through cultural and philosophical lenses.

A table of gay men with diverse ages, races and backgrounds gather in a Los Angeles bookstore to discuss Olufemi O. Taiwo’s book Elite Capture and the co-opting of identity politics (queerness especially) by hegemony. What follows is an unscripted conversation between the participants, including Matthew Lax as facilitator alongside founding member of the Radical Faeries, and Jungian psychologist, Dr. Don Kilhefner as co-facilitator.

In A Tired Dog is a Good Dog, Part Two, pack behaviour is explored along with notions of dominance, submission, trust and consent, both within human and dog relationships and within pup play. Love and bonding become a central theme, weaving together further investigation into pup relationships, training sessions with a traumatised dog and the director’s own relationship to the dogs in his life that he has loved and lost.

Examines authenticity, provenance, and the narratives we construct around art and material history. Weaving together exploitative casting tapes, the hanging of un-attributed Dutch master paintings and the history and cultural meaning of denim fabric to reach a deeper understanding of the entanglements of class, labour and aesthetics.

Androgynous figures struggle to execute various labors within a bleak, vacuous monoculture. Addressing the inherent violence of the real and the simulated, as well as the dubious pleasure of witnessing, narratives of safety, risk and use-value are tested via 3D-rendered, plastic surrogates. Choreographed motion-studies and textual, Brechtian vignettes produce alternative translations and behaviors, both acceptable and indecent. Brunt Drama manipulates the slipperiness of affect-inducing data visualizations intended to ameliorate fear into consumption — presenting a simulation of the unrepresentable, visible from both sides of the screen.

One of Matthew Lax’s most personal works merges two complementary explorations of canine and human relationships. Drawing on his upbringing as a quadruplet in a dog-breeding family, the film weaves original footage with family archives to examine animal husbandry, canine behavior, and the human tendency to mimic dogs through kink. In its second phase, it expands its inquiry into pack behavior and the dynamics of dominance, submission, trust, and consent—both in human-dog relationships and within pup play. Love, bonding, and personal loss underpin the narrative as Lax reflects on his intimate connections with the dogs he has loved and lost.