| release date | June 25 2010 |
| director | Yorgos Lanthimos |
| writer | Yorgos Lanthimos |
| starring | Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Hristos Passalis, Anna Kalaitzidou. |
| site | dogtooth.gr |
| trailer 1 | Trailer #1 |
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Strange… So very strange… So strange in fact, I actually liked it, I liked it a lot. “Dogtooth” is made in such a way that it is unlike anything I have ever seen, the concept is original and deeply disturbing. Why is this billed as a comedy? There is nothing funny about this (well maybe apart from “your mum is giving birth to two children and a dog”) but it was just so uniquely unsettling that it was strangely compelling! I didn’t want to miss a minute of it. Sure, “Dogtooth” is not for everyone, but I am sure some people will like it like I did!
However, the ending unfortunately let it down. I won’t ruin it but it just left me feeling unsatisfied. It’s like having small fries at Mcdonalds! You want large! LARGE FRIES!! Anyway, it ended so abruptly with no warning at al, which ultimately made the whole film pointless!
But ending aside. I actually really enjoyed this interesting, incredibly peculiar yarn and I’m surprised I’m the only one who’s reviewed it! Not many films leave me speechless at the end. Give something different a try… You might just like it
don’t keeps yo’ kiddos locked away from the world folks…..and when your daughter asks you what a pussy is, don’t lie to her.
Like senor King below me stated: Excellent movie! Too abrupt ending!
A good idea, but not exactly my type of film. Definitely agree with the other two reviewers that the ending was too abrupt.
WTF…WOW…
I need to watch this again for sure.
WOW. seriously.
*This Review contains Spoilers*
This Greek film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos won a special award at the 2009 Cannes Film festival and is quite possibly one of the most bizarrely original films I have seen in years. It’s about trying to raising your kids without the influences of the outside world. It’s the age old question of nature versus nurture. At the end of the day you just have to trust and hope that your kids will make the right decisions. But how these parents raise these kids is a bit strange to say the least.
This family of five has three teenage children (two girls, one boy) that live is a fenced off compound on the edge of town. We never learn any of family members’ names as they are just referred to as Eldest daughter, Younger daughter and Son. The Father is obviously a fiercely controlling man and quite possibly stark raving mad, who owns a local factory. The Mother is the kids teacher and your basic homemaker, although is firmly under the control of the Father. The teens have never been outside the high fences of their house and have no idea how the rest of the world lives. There is a television but all they can watch is home movies. What’s even stranger is the vocabulary they are taught, with basic words having completely different meanings. The sea is a leather chair, a motorway is a strong breeze, and a zombie is a little yellow flower.
In this world the Father has created, he is fighting against nature itself and has contingency plans and explanations for anything that might pop up. He uses Listerine as a punishment. The airplanes that fly overhead are really just toys. The cat is the most fearsome, man eating animal around. They hold family contests for stickers. The kids are also told they have another brother who has been banished from the family and is forced to live on the outside because he was being bad. There is no end in describing how strange this family is.
The only outsider that is allowed in is a female security guard from the Fathers factory named Christina (the only named character). She is paid to have sex with the son to quell his urges, but when Christina requests that he go down on her, he refuses. Afterwards while talking to the Eldest daughter, who is fascinated by the sparkling headband that Christina wears, comes up with a new plan. Christina gives her things from the outside in exchange for “licking her”. The Teens are such a model of perfect innocence that to them licking a person anywhere on their body can be exchanged for favors. The Eldest daughter bargains for some actual movies that she finds in Christina bag, but when the Younger daughter squeals on her. The Father is infuriated that his Children have been contaminated by this vile woman. He goes and beats Christina with a VCR, then beats the Eldest Daughter with a VHS tape duct taped to his hand. With that the Father is no longer willing to trust anyone from the outside, so he has the Eldest Daughter replacing Christina to have sex with the Son.
At dinner the kids are told that they are not able to leave home until they have lost a Dogtooth. After the eldest daughter’s experiences, she wants out so bad that she knocks out a bunch of her own teeth including a Dogtooth. She then goes and hides in the trunk of the car and waits to leave. The end. This is really one of those movies that needs to be seen to be believed. It is definitely is not for everyone. If it was rated it would be NC-17 for its handful of graphic sex scenes. But don’t let that deter you, see it!
Dogtooth is one of the best foreign films i’ve seen in awhile. It’s even one of the best films i’ve seen in general. It reminds me of Funny games in its style and cinematography. Absolutley stunning. These types of films that are woven with pure genius are a rare occurence. It may very well be my favorite film of 2010 and I hope it wins best foreign film for the academy awards. Highly recommended
This is a very well shot movie. The acting is great, cinematography is very good, and the story is strangely original. It took me a little while to adjust to this film but now I think it’s great.
Hated it….
Dogtooth (Kynodontas) (2009) is a film unlike any other I have ever seen; provocative and disturbing, yet oddly comical. There is no way to describe the plot, nor should I, since part of the experience of Dogtooth is trying to decipher exactly what one is watching. I will volunteer only, since you’ll find this on the DVD case or film synopsis, that it involves a family living mostly apart from the outside world, within a walled compound. The film is in Greek and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. It won Best Film in the “Un Certain Regard” category at Cannes, and was nominated for an Academy Award in the best foreign language film category.
Filmed mostly with static camera shots, naturalistic, with no screen music except what comes from radios, phonographs, or the characters themselves. Frequently the actors are partly outside the frame, their heads or the tops of heads cut off. It is, in a sense, an anti-film. Nothing you will see is predictable. The flow of the narrative is punctuated sometimes by disturbing outbreaks of violence, and the few sex scenes are completely matter of fact, realistic, yet bizarre and unsettling.
If you take this one on, be prepared for a stretch and a challenge. You may feel, at the end,
as shut off from meaning as if you had just spent an hour and a half on another planet.
I have my ideas of what the movie is trying to say, but it probably will have a different meaning for others. For references in tone, I might suggest the films of Michael Haneke, or “Gummo” by Harmony Korine. For some reason, while watching, I was reminded of an equally strange Todd Haynes film called “Safe,” perhaps by the growing sense of isolation that the film imparts. But these are just cinematic echoes, and useless in preparing you for the dramatic puzzle, the cinematic challenge that Dogtooth presents.
See this one if you think there is nothing new in the world.
great!!!
This was a very strange movie and very well played by all the actors I must say. To even image growing up in that type of family would be beyond dysfuntional totally.