Trent Burns (21) is a lawn dog: he mows the lawns for the rich inhabitants of Camelot Gardens, a suburb of Louisville, Kentucky. Every day it’s the same old story: the customers forget how much they owe him, their children pester him as if it’s their birthright and security guards act as if he were a criminal. But Trent needs the money. So he pulls himself together and keeps on mowing. Devon Stockard (10) is a new kid on the block. Unlike her ambitious parents, she has no friends. She amuses herself with the Baba Yaga tales that her uncle told her and likes being scared. And one day she walks down a woodland path instead of selling cookies for the guides. She reaches an old caravan, that could be the hiding place of Baba Yaga. It is however Trent’s home, and he doesn’t want a little girl hanging around. That can only cause trouble. Yet a bond develops between the inquisitive girl and the outcast, one that is soundly condemned by parents and the neighbourhood.Lawn Dogs is a beautifully filmed satirical drama, in which the relationship between Trent (Sam Rockwell) and Devon (Mischa Barton) provides emotional depth. The script by poet and playwright Naomi Wallace, herself from Kentucky, and the directing of Duigan succeed in avoiding the obvious sexual component.
