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Dogtooth

Kynodontas

Greece

2009

94 Min

Color

2.35:1

Greek

Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
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PROD Yorgos Tsourgiannis, Athina Rachel Tsangari

SCR Efthymis Filippou, Giorgos Lanthimos

CAST Christos Stergioglou, Mary Tsoni, Aggeliki Papoulia, Michelle Valley, Hristos Passalis, Anna Kalaitzidou

Cannes (Un Certain Regard): Un Certain Regard Award, Toronto (Contemporary World Cinema), London (Cinema Europa), São Paulo, SXSW (Festival Favorites), Transilvania (No Limit), Stockholm (Competition): Bronze Horse, Mar del Plata (International Competition), Rotterdam (Spectrum), Karlovy Vary (Young Greek Cinema), Helsinki (Avainelokuvat)

Synopsis

The father, the mother and their three kids live in a house at the outskirts of a city. There is a tall fence surrounding the house. The kids have never left the house. They are being educated, entertained, bored and exercised in the manner that their parents deem appropriate, without any influence from the outside world. They believe that the airplanes flying over are toys and that zombies are small yellow flowers. The only person allowed to enter the house is Christina. She works as a security guard at the father’s business. The father arranges her visits to the house in order to appease the sexual urges of the son. The whole family is fond of her, especially the eldest daughter. One day Christina gives her as a present of a headband that has stones that glow in the dark and asks for something in return. —Cannes Film Festival

Director

Giorgos Lanthimos

Giorgos Lanthimos (Greek: Γιώργος Λάνθιμος; born 1973) is a Greek filmmaker and theatre director. He studied film and television direction at Stavrakos Film School in Athens. Since 1995 he has directed feature films, theatre plays, videodance and a large number of TV commercials. He was also a member of the creative team which designed the opening and closing ceremonies of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. In 2009, his film Dogtooth won the Prix Un Certain Regard at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. –Wikipedia

Wall

Displaying 4 of 195 wall posts.

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AnAppleScruff

3Feb12

Surreal and disturbing. It gets from very quiet to unexpected moments and then quiet again.

Ross Patterson

28Jan12

Brilliantly bizarre and haunting, but also charming. The almost constant use of static cameras never becomes cloying, which in itself is refreshing.

Stefan van Mourik

23Jan12

Very dynamic in the ways of playing with expectations and self created borders in the story. I paused the moment before the cat attack to laugh for five minutes, but then I became aware of what a metaphore it could be...

Michael Harbour

16Jan12

See what happens when you contaminate your well ordered household? Is it an extreme example of controlling parenting? This world unto itself is fascinating to watch unravel. Not entirely successful, but compelling and will stay with you to ponder for a while.

AnAppleScruff likes this

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.

Venice and Toronto 2011. Giorgos Lanthimos's "Alps"

By David Hudson on September 3, 2011

“It’d be rash to call it a better film than Dogtooth, but it is, in the relative scheme of these things, a bigger one.”

read article

Bertolucci, Lou Ye, Lists and Remembrances

By David Hudson on December 15, 2010

It's a big day for lists, actually, but let's begin with MoMA's Bernardo Bertolucci retrospective, opening today and running through January

read article

"Rabbit à la Berlin" and "Wavy Gravy"; S&S, L and More Lists

By David Hudson on December 8, 2010

Michael Atkinson in the Voice on Rabbit à la Berlin: "Rejiggering the history of postwar Germany into a Shel Silverstein-ish fairy tale about

read article

Venice and TIFF 2010. Athina Rachel Tsangari's "Attenberg"

By David Hudson on September 13, 2010

Let's begin this one with Josef Braun's first review in his first dispatch from Toronto: "Like last year's Dogtooth, which [Athina Rachel

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"Wild Grass," "Dogtooth," Fests, Events and Goodbyes

By David Hudson on June 25, 2010

Fortunately, we have Knight and Day behind us, but I'm glad to be updating that same entry still with fresh takes on Restrepo. In this

read article

Movie Poster of the Week: "Dogtooth"

By Adrian Curry on June 25, 2010

Dogtooth, which may be the highest profile Greek release since the heyday of Theo Angelopoulos, opens in the US today after over a year on

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ND/NF 2010, 3/30; Orphans, Truffaut, "Star Wars"

By David Hudson on March 29, 2010

"Anchored by a revelatory performance by Alba Gaia Bellugi, The Evening Dress is a keen portrayal of a girl caught uncomfortably in that

read article

SXSW 2010: "Kick-Ass," "Dogtooth," "White Stripes"

By David Hudson on March 13, 2010

So SXSW 2010 has kicked off with Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass, which, according to Peter Martin at Twitch, "does. At its most elemental

read article

The Auteurs Daily: Toronto. Dogtooth

By David Hudson on September 20, 2009

Scott Weinberg: "Former Cinematical chief, close personal friend, and actual superhero James Rocchi said this when I asked him what I should

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