As I was watching the Greek film DOGTOOTH, I kept thinking there’s a
good film in here someplace.
The director knows how to frame a scene and there are many memorable
images – The two sisters then the older sister by herself dancing at dinner,
the scene where the older brother kills a cat, the family barking like dogs and
meowing like cats.
Likewise, the story is well-thought out. The idea of a father who deliberately
isolates his family has been played out in the news in recent years although
his near total web of lies is too far removed from a steadily encroaching real
life as to be realistic. The phony
language they come up with and the character of each of the three kids are
examples of how well thought out parts of DOGTOOTH are.
The problem is that these two positive elements (interesting visuals,
good story) never meet in the actual film and the result is a confusing albeit
ambitious mess. A little back story
might have helped and perhaps a little exposition too as there are many details
from their life I couldn’t pick up from the story. In addition, within this self-created self-contained
universe, some of the behavior of the characters makes no sense. They feel like the poorly thought out
improvisations of an inexperienced actor.
We invest time in understanding these characters and some of their
actions do not make sense to the armchair psychiatrist in all of us viewers.
Aside from the unrealistic setting and family life, the graphic sex
scenes act as a distraction rather than help the plot. This is the rare film where salaciousness
dilutes the narrative.
Critics went nuts over this film when it came out in 2009 and parts of
it do work very well. The problem is the
parts don’t work together and the result is unsatisfying.
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