Dogtooth: a brilliant, artistic Greek film with a lot of baggage to take in.
This Greek ‘nightmare’, as it has been called by various sources came out in the UK in 2010 and winning a variety of awards at the Cannes Film Festival.
Directed with precision by the award-winning Yorgos Lanthimos, the film can be very raw and explicit, with the actors all giving brave and fearless performances. The film is also very disturbing and dark, and stays with you for a long time after the end.
The filming style is quite bleak, being inspired by the Dogme 95 films, started by Lars von Trier in 1995. Some scenes, for example, are filmed without showing the upper part of the body. This is a very good technique for the audience to be brought into the film because it is something not usually seen in films and an interesting technique to use.
The film is a masterpiece of slow build-up to the final erupting conclusion. But the build-up doesn’t bore, except it adds a nice layer to an already intriguing concept and does make the finale shockingly authentic. A perfect film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFtDzK64-pk
Since making this film, Yorgos Lanthimos has gone on to make Alps and The Lobster with Colin Farrell.