Dogtooth

[pro-bassoonist]

Greek director Giorgos Lanthimos's Kynodontas a.k.a Dogtooth (2009) has received a preliminary release date: April 15th. Winner of the Un Certain Regard Award at last year's Cannes Film Festival. Courtesy of Verve Pictures.

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Official Greek site and trailer:
http://www.dogtooth.gr/

Montreal Gazette:

I had not, up until this point in my life, wondered what pornography would be like were it scripted by Napoleon Dynamite. But, thanks to Giorgos Lanthimos' Kynodontas, that question has been pre-emptively answered. It seems that the sex, when present, would be weird, awkward, and possibly illegal. But most of the time the characters would be too distracted by shiny objects and animal noises to do much in the way of coupling. And there would be a dance sequence.

And that’s pretty much the plot of the graphic, twisted and brilliant Kyndontas, variously translated as Canine or Dogtooth. Christos Stergioglou and Michelle Valley play parents who, convinced the outside world is full of negative influences, have raised their children to adulthood without ever letting them leave the house. As a result, their brood is completely mal-socialized, comprised of near-adults who act like those kids in grade school who had to see a therapist because they kept eating girls’ hair and going to the bathroom in public. Essentially, the film is a visualization of that Pearl Jam song Jeremy, only less caught up in its own self-importance.

The beauty of director Giorgos Lanthimos’ film is not only its ability to seamlessly shift tones, but also to stack one upon the other, mixing sadness with hilarity with graphic violence and sex, like a layer cake of mental illness. Kynodontas tugs at heartstrings while it tickles funny bones and kicks kidneys, strengthened by incredible performances by its small cast and a steadfast refusal to lead the audience by the hand through its bizarre plot. With painfully long take cinematography and a quirky, colourful claustrophobia, it’s probably the strangest cinematic experience of the year thus far. But it’s also one of the most rewarding, provided you like shiny things and animal noises.

Pro-B