'The Friend' is a gentle exploration of friendship indeed

The star of "The Friend" has the loping stride of Robert Mitchum and the droopy, melancholy eyes of Peter Lorre. He has those classic Hollywood features-instantly accessible, forever unknowable and when he walks down the street with his co-stars, Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, people's heads turn.

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"People would go, 'Hey, get a load of the blonde," Murray says before acting out a double take. "Get a load of THE DOG!" Bing, the harlequin Great Dane of "The Friend," is the latest in a long line of four-legged big-screen breakout stars. But unlike canine idols before him, Bing is gigantic. Toto would fit in his paw and Asta could comfortably sit on his head. David Siegel, co-director of "The Friend," estimates Bing has a good 40 pounds (18 kilograms) on Watts. Gentle as he is, Bing looks more like one of those hulking walkers in "Star Wars" than Lassie.

"The Friend," which opens nationwide in theatres, isn't your average dog movie. either. Adapted from Sigrid Nunez's 2018 National Book Award-winning novel, it stars Watts as Iris, a New York author who reluctantly inherits Apollo (Bing), the cherished companion of her late mentor Walter (Murray). Their cramped coexistence is challenged not just by the pet policy of Iris' building but by Apollo's own grief, too.