Though it’s not usually a good idea to encourage you stop reading this early on, having already seen Yorgos Lanthimos’s provocative film, “Dogtooth,” we think you would be better off going in blind.
Not that the stellar trailer below contains any real “spoilers” (though it may seem like it does), but allowing yourself a preemptive glimpse into this warped world is almost like cheating — the experience “Dogtooth” offers is more rewarding when you find yourself as disoriented by its initial premise as as its central characters seem to be. But if surprises aren’t your thing, and you need some real visceral incentive to check out this Greek stunner, the trailer Kino International has served up should stoke your anticipation.
For further context, we reviewed “Dogtooth” when we caught it in Toronto last year, and had this to say about its peculiar plot: “A study in perverse domesticity, Lanthimos depicts a married couple with three young-adult children (one boy, two girls) and their struggle to keep their family sheltered from the outside world. Their property is surrounded by a tall wooden fence and only the father is allowed to venture outside each day for work, regaling his children with made-up stories about the dangers that lurk beyond the borders of their home.”
That brief synopsis may not hit at the darkness (or, for that matter, the dark humor) that defines Lanthimos’ distinct vision, but the trailer does a more than decent job at hinting exactly how much the effects of this twisted social experiment weigh on the psyches of each character. This is a disturbing, dark and comedic work and one of the most original pictures we’ve seen in a while. We also added it to our 2010: Most Anticipated List — Films That We Have Already Seen/Films That You Should See list.
If you’re hungry for more insights into the mind of Yorgos Lanthimos, look for our interview with the iconoclastic filmmaker at the end of the month, and check out “Dogtooth” when its unleashed into theaters on June 25th.
This is an AWESOME movie. By the way, in your review you guys said the director doesn't play anything for laughs. Not sure I agree. All that language stuff, the dance scene, etc? At the New Directors screening it played pretty funny and during the Q+A the director, struggling a bit with the question, said he does think of it as a comedy, albeit a perverse one.
The question of if certain scenes in "Dogtooth" are meant to be funny is an interesting one, and it's brought up in our interview.
I for one will admit in retrospect that the comedy didn't register as much for me when I saw it, and that's why I didn't acknowledge it as much as I perhaps should have in my initial review. But I don't feel like that reaction is invalid; Lanthimos more of less claims that his intention was for scenes to be interpreted as funny or terrifying by the individual.
My response to the film personally was one where its visceral bleakness more or less eclipsed its dark humor, but obviously others feel differently and that diversity of reaction is one of the things that makes the film so strong.