Dogtooth
Written and Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, Dogtooth is weird, extraordinary and deeply disturbing drama set in Greece focusing on a group of young adults who have been isolated from society and controlled by their overbearing parents since birth. Their Father played by (Christos Stergioglou), has set in motion a series of ‘tall-tails’ about the world beyond the families isolated suburban house, in order to control and protect his children from the modern world. Yellow flowers are zombies and cats are dangerous because they eat people, so the three young adults are told and believe.
However, curiosity takes hold via elements of the modern world, that confuse and spark wonder among them. They watch bizarre homemade videos and old movies on VHS tapes, including Jaws, flashdance and Rocky IV. This amazes them, and the trio start to question life beyond the electric gate.
Dogtooth can be quite funny to watch and at times will resemble a dark-comedy satire. However, other scene are simply too brutal and unbearable to watch. Only saved by the cleverly written storyline by Yorgos Lanthimos, which will keep you watching to the very end.
In Dogtooth there are clear echoes of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom with it’s direct attack on personal freedom and control in 1930s fascist Italy. Also, hints of Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel, for the films surrealist style.
