+ Best Greek Movie of the Year
 |
| Life presented clinically, as a scale that moves in directions of + and -, on the poster for Yorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth |
QUICK REVIEW:
A parenting couple have their three grown children living in their home. They have taught them an alternative vocabulary; that they can't go out in the world before they lose their dogtooth, and several other similarly grotesque things.
Greek Dogtooth is an incredibly strange film with a very consistent photographic language, (cinematography by Thimios Bakatakis (Blind (2014))), a whole lot of very mechanical, unsexy and just plain 'wrong' sex scenes and some actors' performances that transgress what is normally expected. The film is fraught with an absurd, dark humor, as we get to know this deeply messed-up family, without any story per se unfolding. And yet the film moves slowly and unpleasantly forward.
It is especially the questions, discussions and thoughts that follow watching it that make Dogtooth exciting. It is the third feature by Athenian Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster (2015)), which he co-wrote with Efthymis Filippou (Alps (2011)).
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Watch the great trailer for the film with English subtitles here
Cost: 0.25 mil. € (0.32 mil. $)
Box office: 0.38 mil. $
= Big flop
[Yet Dogtooth is considered one of the most successful Greek films in recent history: The film was given 0.2 mil. € from The Greek Film Center, and was achieved on its very low budget with the help of volunteers. It premiered in Cannes, where it won the Prix Un Certain Regard and the Prix de la Jeunesse. It was unanimously chosen by the Greek Film Committee to represent the country at the Oscars, where it was nominated as Best Foreign Film in 2011, but lost to the Danish In a Better World/Hævnen (2010). The film grossed 110k $ in North America (28.6 % of the total gross) on a maximum of just 5 screens. Its biggest market was Spain (163k $/42.4 %), and 3rd biggest was native Greece (49k $/12.8 %). Dogtooth is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Dogtooth?
Also, please, report your opinion of other Lanthimos films, if you've seen any
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