Wednesday 20 April 2011

Dogtooth (Kynodontas) [2009]


Arthouse movies, which are obscure, usually tend to be frustrating to watch; but once in a while one of them turn out to be not just intruiging, but even darn interesting to watch. The Greek film Dogtooth, fortunately for me, turned out to belong to the latter category. This strange, and at times bizarre, film is about a young guy and his two sisters who have been forced to live totally isolated lives by their father in a large and luxurious farm house outside the city. Leave alone having any contact with the outside world, they are even deliberately spoon-fed wrong information about the world around them by their parents, and going to the extent of determining every fact of their behaviour and viewpoint, in order to shape their lives exactly the way they want. But, as can be expected given these freakish circumstances, things do go wrong – at times even horribly wrong, and a most minor act leads ultimately to rebellion by one of the girls. The director never provides any easy answers or explanations, and the ensuing film is therefore not just immensely disturbing to watch (despite the long moments of quietude that pervades major parts of its length), it is also hair-splittingly difficult to fathom at times. Yet, for all its idiosyncracies, it also turned out to be a chiling and compelling viewing experience. The acting of the cast, it must be mentioned, did play a vital role in the film’s success.








Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Family Drama
Language: Greek
Country: Greece

8 comments:

Pratyush said...

Glad you watched it finally. I loved the film.

Alex Delarge said...

Glad you really liked this one; it made my Top Ten list! This had the nightmarish quality of absolute reality...just not our reality. I imported the BD in October so need to watch again and write a review.

Shubhajit said...

@Pratyush: Yes, I did watch it finally :)

Shubhajit said...

@Alex: Thanks buddy. Yes indeed, and the nightmarish quality, juxtaposed by the serene picturisation, really made this film not just a discomfiting but also a unique watch. I'd be interested to read your take on it at your site.

Alex DeLarge said...

Keep up the great work! I visit your blog regularly though I haven't been posting or even writing on my own blog for a while; I just got kinda burned out. But I'm back updating my blog at leat twice a week and watching great films. I'm going to watch DOGTOOTH again this weekend.

I watched a very interesting film last night called IT HAPPENED HERE about a Nazi occupation of England after the Dunkirk fiasco: I love "what if" scenarios. It was made in 1966 and is available only in the UK. I highly recommend!

Shubhajit said...

Thanks a lot Alex.

I did notice a dearth of activity at your place, and found that especially surprising given the number of movies you watch and review there. Yeah, I guess a break here & there always helps in rejuvenating oneself, and you sure deserved it.

Thanks for intimating about the movie. I sure will look out for it. I too watched an interesting movie called Ardh Satya (Half Truth), which I finished watched hardly an hour back. And I already feel like watching another film now :)

Keep visiting. Its always a pleasure to read your comments.

NiceGuy said...

Easily one of the best movies I've ever seen. And it is equally nice to see that many people esp keen movie watchers are impressed with this effort.

Interesting site, BTW. Wish I had been here much earlier. Keep up the good work.

Shubhajit said...

Yes, this was quite a disturbing as well as interesting watch.

Thanks & do keep visiting.