Just in time to make their way into everybody’s Easter baskets, newly released on DVD this month, Hachiko: A Dog’s Story, starring Richard Gere and Joan Allen. The heartwarming film follows a chance encounter between a college professor and an Akito puppy at a train station. The professor adopts the pup, and form an everlasting bond that surpasses even death. Based on the true story of a dog and his owner in Japan, the canine reached legendary status when Hachiko continued to meet the train his master would arrive on everyday for years after he passed away.
While the story’s roots are grounded in the foreign lands of Japan, the movie was actually filmed in Rhode Island in the winter of 2008, including the towns of Bristol, Woonsocket, Kingston, and Providence. A few scenes were in fact shot on location in Japan. The film was released in Japan in August of 2009, and had a showing at the Seattle International Film Festival last June. Sony Pictures Entertainment decided against a stateside theatrical release, however, and was instead released on DVD on March 9, 2010.
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