‘The Friend’: Get the Tissue Boxes Ready

Naomi Watts delivers her career-best performance starring opposite a Great Dane.

Iris (Naomi Watts) must take on the care of Great Dane Apollo after the death of a friend, in "The Friend." Bleecker Street

R | 2h 3m | Drama | 2025

Adapted from the 2018 novel of the same name by Sigrid Nunez, “The Friend” is co-written and co-directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel. The film might just be the most literate and cerebral “shaggy dog” (a family-oriented fantasy comedy) movie ever made. It is at once heartwarming, uplifting, bittersweet, complex, and intellectually stimulating.