Blind (2014) - Vogt's artistic debut about blindness makes its audience confused and depressed

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Lead Ellen Dorrit Petersen (Thelma (2017)) exhibits her naked backside on the poster for Eskil Vogt's Blind

A blind woman remembers her boyfriend, when he is away from her, and when he is there, she feels far away from him. Another lonely woman misses her son, when he is not with her, and she seeks a new human connection.

Blind is the feature directing debut for writer-director Eskil Vogt (Oslo, August 31st/Oslo, 31. August (2011), co-writer). It is a depressing Norwegian drama, in which characters are lonely, awkward, disloyal SPOILER and, - as if to make matters worse, - the woman with the son also suddenly and inexplicably becomes blind. The introverted male character guides us thoroughly through his masturbation and porn habits. - But what for? Besides it possibly adding a tangent to the general, grey picture of depressing adult life in Norway, which is projected in Blind.
The blindness that the film deals with certainly makes it more uncomfortable, because audiences unavoidably imagine themselves put in the horrific situation of losing one's vision, and the inevitable everyday results of the handicap: The spots that would go unnoticed, the things we would be walking into; the secrets that might evolve due to our defect, and the distance to the surrounding world. Blind cultivates these issues and in doing so leaves the one-sided impression that life with blindness is only sad, lonely and miserable. The artistic strokes of Vogt's film don't save it from being uncompelling and depressing.

Related posts:

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Vogt gave en interview at the London Film Festival about Blind that you can watch here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown (likely at least a huge flop)
[Blind premiered 17 January (Sundance) and runs 96 minutes. Shooting took place in Oslo, Norway. The film won festival and some critical acclaim but has no box office performances released and is likely to have made very little money and become a huge flop theatrically. This article indicates that it was also a box office disappointment in Norway, where it had sold some 6k tickets after two weeks. The film was nominated for two Sundance awards, winning Vogt a screenwriting prize, nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize, won a distribution prize at Berlin International Film Festival, an AFI Fest nomination and 4 out of 7 nominations at the Norwegian Amanda Awards. Vogt has focused on screenwriting since the film; he has written for countryman Joachim Trier's latest two films, Louder Than Bombs (2015) and Thelma (2017). Blind is fresh at 94 % with a 7.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Blind?

Dogtooth/Κυνόδοντας (Kynodontas) (2009) - Lanthimos establishes himself internationally with an unsettling family portrait

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+ 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)).

Related posts:

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

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

Keep The Lights On (2012) or, In Love With a Drug Addict

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+ Best LGBT Movie of the Year

This warm poster perfectly encapsulates the intimate space which is recreated in Ira Sachs' Keep the Lights On

A gay, Danish documentary film-maker in New York finds love, but unfortunately this love comes with a drug addiction, which becomes a serious test for their subsequent relationship.

Aesthetically beautiful from the memorable paintings during the title credits across most of the well-shot scenes, by cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis (Dogtooth (2009)), often with decreased contrast which softens the edges and increases the intimate feel already inherent in the story.
This is a deeply fantastic film, very relatable and with exceptional acting by both leads: Thure Lindhardt (Into the Wild (2007)) and Zachary Booth (The Beaver (2011)).
Based on personal experiences with a drug addict boyfriend, this deep-felt excursion ends up being a moving experience and one of the year's finest films as well as one of the best gay love movies in a long time. It is directed by Memphis-born Ira Sachs (Married Life (2007)).
Keep the Lights On uses several songs from Arthur Russell and makes his This Is How We Walk On the Moon its unofficial theme, which it maybe overuses just a bit.

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2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  

Watch the trailer here

Cost: Unknown:
Box office: 0.2 mil. $ (US only)
= Uncertainty
[Keep the Lights On won the Teddy Award for Best Feature at the Berlin Film Festival in 2012 and was met with critical praise almost everywhere. However, its cost and its box office results outside the US are unreported.]

What do you think of Keep the Lights On?
Any gay love movie/s that you want to recommend?