NVRMND’s Movie Recommendations: “Dogtooth”

Before I start I’d like to say that this recommendation will not go into an in-depth analysis of the movie. I do this so for those reading who have yet to see the film. In fact, I’d prefer if you didn’t read my post and just watch the movie.

The movie I’m recommending is the foreign film “Dogtooth” or “Kynodontas” if you’re going by the original Greek title. It was directed by Giorgos Lanthimos who co-wrote it with Efthymis Filippou.

“Dogtooth” is easily one of the weirdest movies I’ve ever seen. The audience is basically forced into witnessing the lives of three teenagers who live in isolation and know nothing of the outside world. Their extremely imposing parents frighten them into submission through made up stories of the horrors that lay outside of their country estate. Teaching them the false definition of a word is common practice. For example, to them the “sea” is a large armchair and a “zombie” is a small yellow flower. The parents even go as far as to say that the children used to have a second brother who was disobedient and was thus ostracized. The only family member who is allowed to come and go as he pleases is the father, who supports the family with his job managing a local factory. The mother is basically just as trapped as the children, and in some ways lives a worse life because she is aware of what she is missing.

The only non-family member who is allowed on the premises is one of the father’s colleagues, Christina, who is paid to relieve the son of his sexual urges. The son begins to get bored of her, so she convinces the eldest daughter into some lesbian action. Thus the spread of sex floods the house, soon to be followed by hints of rebellion.

While we’re on the topic of sex in the movie, I’d like to point out the actors commitment to the role. All of them had to preform so very revealing stuff; stuff that in the States would have given this movie an “X” rating. That being said, it was done tastefully and did not distract from the point of the movie.

In my opinion the movie was shot beautifully. Beautiful as in almost every frame could make a great photo. Maybe I’m not the best judge, but on my first run through I was really digging the strange angles and lack of camera movement. It was a fresh breath compared to most movies where the camera is moving so much that you end up feeling motion sick by the end of it.

I strongly recommend this movie. While some people are frightened by foreign films (mostly due to the aspect of reading subtitles), this one moves at an easy pace due to strangeness of the characters lives. It’s also now available to stream from Netflix, so spend an hour and a half and watch it, you won’t regret it.