Edith van der Meulen was partnered with her first Seeing Eye dog when she was 21. Since then, she has held on to photographs and 8mm footage and has even commissioned portraits of the four-legged companions that have walked with her for five decades. “It’s a stupid wish for a blind person,” she says. But her urge to preserve memorials that she can never see is also a profound testament to the mysterious and ineffable bond between people and their service dogs. Buddy follows six different partnerships—each person with a unique challenge, each dog with a unique responsibility. The film delves into the complex struggles of being human and the variety of ways that dogs stand by our side, helping us to cope physically and emotionally. Preferring delicate observation to emotional manipulation, Buddy rejects easy sentimentalism in favor of a far more nuanced portrait of the sublime relationship between humans and canines.  TAW