My Life as a Dog

My Life as a Dog (Mitt liv som hund, 1985) is a Swedish drama directed by Lasse Hallström — watch it online on iFILM. Eleven-year-old Ingemar has a habit of measuring his own misfortune against worse fates: at least he's not the dog they sent up in Sputnik. With his mother ill and his father posted abroad, he's shipped off to a small countryside village to stay with relatives.

What starts as an awkward rural summer — a new crowd, a tomboy named Saga who punches boys but quietly likes him — turns heavier once the season ends. Hallström adapted Reidar Jönsson's novel with a lightness that makes the film's grief land harder than expected. Nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Director, it remains one of the warmest and most quietly devastating coming-of-age films Scandinavian cinema has produced. Stream My Life as a Dog (1985) on iFILM.