You can watch a handful of movies about dogs, and it still won’t get any easier to not shed a few tears. Kim Deok-min’s Dog Days is no different. It shows that dogs are more than just a pet you bring home, they are family. A truly heartwarming family-friendly watch, Dog Days also advocates for the “adopt, don’t buy” campaign.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The Movie?
Min-sang is a crabby landlord. His veterinarian tenant, Jin-young, gets the worst treatment for running a clinic downstairs. From shouting at her everyday to kicking a bowl of dog food, Min-Sang is not empathetic to dogs. Things start to change when Min-seo, a celebrated architect, comes to the clinic. Min-sang is also an architect, and his ideas mostly don’t impress people. Not like his grumpy and shabby face helps him a lot either. When a woman crashes her car into Min-sang’s car, he calls the cops. The woman was helpless, and her dog had just been diagnosed with cancer. Seeing the rudeness of Min-sang, Min-seo sees his designs and tells him why they are rubbish. Min-sang discovers that Min-seo is a regular at the clinic. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Min-sang has to deliver a pitch to attract investors. He changes his attitude towards Jin-young and asks for help. The two-hour-long movie follows their lives, along with a few more pups and people.
How Does Min-Seo Lose Her Dog?
The elderly Min-seo lives in her luxurious villa with only one companion, her support dog Wanda. After her husband’s death, her son left for New Zealand and grew distant. Min-seo comes off as a rough individual, but she’s wise and kind to the people she interacts with. One day, while walking Wanda, Min-seo collapses on the ground. Jin-woo, a guy who delivers food to Min-seo, finds her and calls for an ambulance. Wanda chased after the ambulance for quite a while, and the scene scarred me for life. Wanda ends up in the backyard of Seon-yonh. He and his wife, Jeong-ah, has recently adopted a daughter named Ji-Yoo, who is always polite but distant from them. She was told by a friend that her adoptive parents would abandon her if she ate too much or made much noise. Seon-yonh and Jeong-ah are inherently sweet people. They try their best to cheer Ji-Yoo up, but she’ll always ask to be alone in her room. Finding Wanda in the backyard, the couple sees Ji-Yoo happy for the first time. Ji-Yoo names the dog Love, and she starts to grow closer to her new parents.
Why Does Hyeon Have To Take Care Of Sting?
Hyeon is a struggling musician who’s just lost the lead vocalist of his band, who’s also his ex-girlfriend. Soo-jeong left her dog Sting behind when she took off for Africa, and Hyeon adopted him. Nobody seems to approve of the idea, but Hyeon feels that Sting is depressed that his mother left, and Hyeon can’t bear that. Hyeon is having a hard time handling Sting and often comes back home to find it wrecked. Soo-jeong’s other ex, Daniel, pays a visit to Sting and Hyeon. The instant connection between Sting and Daniel puts Hyeon off. Daniel and Soo-jeong had adopted Sting when he was a puppy, and Hyeon’s jealousy over that is still very much there. One day, Hyeon finds Sting unconscious and runs to the kindest vet in town, Jin-young. Sting had swallowed wet socks, and it’s at this point that Hyeon finally realises how precious Sting is to him. He starts to truly bond with the dog, only to be outdone by an all-knowing Daniel. Daniel informs Hyeon that Soo-jeong has died in Africa, and now he must take Sting with him to the USA. Despite Hyeon’s desperate wishes to keep Sting, Daniel takes Sting with him. Without Sting, Hyeon finds himself in darkness. He starts to sing a song, remembering Soo-jeong. He finds Soo-jeong sitting across him, continuing the song he started. Ghosts don’t always come to haunt you; good people find their way back to inspire the people they love.
Does Min-Seo Manage To Find Wanda?
Min-seo asks to see Wanda the moment she opens her eyes. When nobody seems to know where Wanda is, Min-seo appoints Jin-woo to help her out. Jin-woo and Min-seo walk around the city, sticking fliers to every wall possible. Min-seo sees that Jin-woo has a talent for carving. She criticizes him for not taking his youth seriously. They have a fallout when Jin-woo refuses to take her advice seriously. He criticizes her for not raising a son who’d take care of her. Seon-yonh comes across one of the fliers, and he comes back to give his wife the bad news. Jeong-ah fears that if they separate Love from Ji-Yoo, she might get distant again. But Seon-yonh convinces her to do the right thing. Jeong-ah, despite being a new mother, breaks the news to Ji-Yoo in a way that can be called one of the best on-screen parenting lessons. Min-seo and Wanda reunite.
What Causes Min-Sang To Change?
Min-sang, when he first approached Jin-young, only wanted to use her contact information to reach Min-seo. But even the heartless come to a point when they show empathy, isn’t that’s what dog movies are about? Jin-young nurses an abandoned Chihuahua, Mr. Park. Min-sang finds this tiny angel at his door, scared of thunder. The same guy who kicked a bowl of dog food earlier takes Mr. Park in. Mr. Park gets clingy with Min-sang, and the guy smiles for the first time. Meanwhile, still trying to get inspiration for his resort project, Min-sang starts to spend more time with Jin-young. He notices how her kind heart makes her care about dogs more than herself. Jin-young also notices how Min-sang is changing with time. She arranges an appointment for Min-sang to see Min-seo. Min-seo tells him that he lacks one thing that the doctor has.
Does Min-Sang Manage To Impress The Investors?
Min-sang uses every bit of information he receives from people who are better than him. Starting from Min-seo’s advice to make a resort for pets and a cafe owner’s advice on how pet owners are a better customer section than the others. He criticises pet-friendly resorts for having too many guidelines and proposes a resort that can accommodate dogs of every breed and size. The one thing Min-sang didn’t have was the empathy of Jin-young. His pitch now had empathy for the furry friends, and the investors were convinced that his project was worthy. Min-sang is elated and can’t hold his joy back. He buys a sweater for Jin-young, as he has fallen in love with her by now.
How Did The Wild Animal Adoption Campaign Change Everyone’s Lives?
Min-sang and Jin-young organize an animal adoption campaign together. Most of the dogs get adopted, except Mr. Park. Min-sang keeps refusing people interested in adopting him. Jin-young confronts him, only to see that Min-sang wants to keep Mr. Park for himself. Meanwhile, Min-seo decides to give Wanda to Ji-Yoo. Min-seo understood that she’s grown too old to take care of Wanda, and the little Ji-Yoo and her parents can’t be happier. Jin-woo visits Min-seo to gift her a wood-carved dog that looks like Wanda. Earlier, Min-seo had Jin-woo enrolled in a wood carving workshop. In a sweet way, Jin-woo became the son she never had, and he got the mother he lost. Hyeon and Seon-yonh take the stage to perform the song he wrote in memory of Soo-jeong. Daniel returns from the USA to reunite Hyeon and Sting. Ji-Yoo sees her daddy looking like a rockstar. Min-seo and Jin-young finally kiss, and it can’t get better than that.
Dog Days shows how people with a good heart always manage to find their way. Dogs aren’t just adorable to look at, they actually make a difference in their parents’ lives too. Sting sitting at Soo-jeong’s grave is only an example that dogs care about relationships a lot more than humans do, and it’s never a bad idea to squish them and call them a good baby.
