Danielle Solzman
Dogtooth (Kynodantas), the breakthrough film from filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, is available for viewers to watch on Blu-ray.
Before Lanthimos wrote and directed films in the English language, the filmmaker was making films in his native Greek tongue. Dogtooth premiered to critical acclaim during the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Winning the Prix Un Certain Regard, the breakthrough film would also earn an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
It’s a dark comedy that focuses on a family that protects their children from being corrupted by the outside world. I’m not sure how a Greek couple turning their home into a gated compound does this but to each their own. Here’s the part that almost makes it sound like a cult: the children are all adults.
Their home soon becomes culturally deprived of everything considered normal. The film does become a bit dark not to mention graphic. This happens when the dad brings home a young woman, Christina, to have sex with his son. What they don’t warn us going into the film is that there is an incestuous relationship.
As a filmmaker, Lanthimos certainly knows his way with comedy, even the dark stuff. At times while viewing the film, I felt sickened by what I was seeing on screen. I’m like, this is from the director of The Favourite?!? While The Favourite wasn’t a dark comedy, it took him to that next level. Dogtooth doesn’t quite have the same thing to say as much as a dark comedy such as The Lobster. There’s no other way to say this but Dogtooth is perverse.
BONUS FEATURES
- Audio commentary with stars Angeliki Papoulia and Christos Passalis
- Yorgos Lanthimos in conversation with Kent Jones (Courtesy of Film at Lincoln Center)
- Interview with Yorgos Lanthimos
- Deleted Scenes
- Trailers
DIRECTOR: Yorgos Lanthimos
SCREENWRITERS: Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthymis Filippou
CAST: Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Angeliki Papoulia, Christos Passalis, Mary Tsoni, Anna Kalaitzidou
