This is an odd film. To start with, we are confused as to what is going on. However, after a while, it all becomes fairly clear: Papa and Mama have, in "The Village" style, been 'protecting' their offspring from the outside world, by telling them that they cannot leave their house until their "dogtooth" has fallen out and grown back again (ie never, since there is no such tooth). If they leave they will immediately be devoured by man's biggest enemy, cats. Far-fetched? You'd think so, but a look at the news over the past couple of years - the Fritzl case, the "Sheffield" Fritzl, the Mongelli case in Turin - and this film could not have come out at a better time for director Lanthimos.
What about the film? Is it any good? Well, the concept is excellent and very relevant, we have established that. The acting at times is a bit weird and stilted but then you realise why they talk in this strange way. The occasional moments of violence are brilliantly filmed, so much so that you feel that the daughter, to refer to one scene, is really being hit hard over the head. The framing seems a bit odd - some out-of-focus shots, lots of missing heads, makes it seem a bit amateurish. In fact, at times it is almost as though Lanthimos is trying to make a Greek Dogme 95 film. This is a minor gripe though, and on the whole I enjoyed this film (as did many people in the well-attended Greenwich Picturehouse in South London last night). And, bizarrely, occasionally very very funny. The ending won't be to everybody's taste but, on the train afterwards, I struggled to think of a better ending. All in all, the film has awakened my appetite to Lanthimos's work and I will certainly try to seek out his two previous films, "Kinetta" and "O kalyteros mou filos".
I see that "Dogtooth" has been sent to the Academy as Greece's representative for next year's Oscars. Well, I can't see it winning, but I certainly can see it making the final five. I keep my fingers crossed.
What about the film? Is it any good? Well, the concept is excellent and very relevant, we have established that. The acting at times is a bit weird and stilted but then you realise why they talk in this strange way. The occasional moments of violence are brilliantly filmed, so much so that you feel that the daughter, to refer to one scene, is really being hit hard over the head. The framing seems a bit odd - some out-of-focus shots, lots of missing heads, makes it seem a bit amateurish. In fact, at times it is almost as though Lanthimos is trying to make a Greek Dogme 95 film. This is a minor gripe though, and on the whole I enjoyed this film (as did many people in the well-attended Greenwich Picturehouse in South London last night). And, bizarrely, occasionally very very funny. The ending won't be to everybody's taste but, on the train afterwards, I struggled to think of a better ending. All in all, the film has awakened my appetite to Lanthimos's work and I will certainly try to seek out his two previous films, "Kinetta" and "O kalyteros mou filos".
I see that "Dogtooth" has been sent to the Academy as Greece's representative for next year's Oscars. Well, I can't see it winning, but I certainly can see it making the final five. I keep my fingers crossed.