Dogtooth [Blu-ray]

This is a weird one for sure, but it’s a great movie if you know what you’re getting. This was the first Lanthimos movie I’d seen (right before the Lobster came out) based on one of those YouTube “movies not to watch with other people” type lists. What this director does is take a simple universal concept and turn it into a surrealistic story. The Lobster was about being single vs being in a relationship and not forcing it out of fear of dying alone. Poor Things was a surrealistic coming of age story, retaining one’s love of the world from innocence after it presents its cruelty and mastering your own destiny. Dogtooth is a surrealistic tale of a man who shelters his family, primarily his children, to the point of absurdity. And how the farther you go to protect them, you actually are hurting them. People often think the movie is “pointless” but the point is the lesson within the story, not the story itself. It’s definitely not for everyone, it’s got some weird sexual stuff in there. But it’s a unique and well made foreign (to the USA) indie film, which won Cannes Film Festival for a reason. I think he’s only gotten better as a filmmaker and I prefer Poor Things and The Lobster over this film; however I’m happy to add it to my blue ray collection.

Phenomenal movie. Definitely not something you'd expect from the name.

tiene una metafora muy buena, no es una pelicula excelente pero tampoco mala, la recomiendo, actuaciones decentes y una pieza muy buena para mi coleccion

The new (2019) special edition from Kino includes special features such as a new audio commentary with stars Papoulia and Passalis; a new conversation between Lanthimos and critic Kent Jones (courtesy of Film at Lincoln Center); archival interview with Lanthimos; deleted scenes; and trailers (one for the film, and the other for Alps). It also includes a reversible cover featuring the original poster. If there ever there was a film that is best experienced without knowing a single detail, this unforgettable oddity from Greece is the one - this was Oscar nominated for best foreign in 2009. A study of human conditioning in extremis, Dogtooth is set almost entirely within the confines of a stately home just outside the city limits. There, walled off by impressive shrubbery and a single gate, live three unnamed siblings and their parents. Though the brother (Christos Passalis) and his two sisters (Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni) are all within a stone’s throw of 20, there’s a childlike innocence to them, and it’s no wonder, for not once in their lives have they ever set foot beyond their property line. With the exception of a telephone hidden away within a cupboard in the parents' bedroom, there’s no access to the outside world. The kids seem fairly well-educated, though they’ve inexplicably been taught some odd vocabulary substitutions by mum and dad, such as ‘keyboard’ for female genitalia, or ‘zombie’ for a small yellow flower found in the garden. They’ve also grown up with a mythology that the only safe way to venture outside of the grounds is by car, for lurking beyond the walls is a vicious monster, known as a cat, that kills instantaneously. And one is only old enough to leave the house when either of their canines have fallen out and grown back. In other words, never. The father (who manages a factory of some sort) is the sole family member to leave the house on a regular basis, and the only other person the children have ever seen is Christina (Anna Kalaitzidou), a security guard from the factory who is brought to the house (blindfolded, naturally) on occasion to have sex with the son. The youngsters spend their days creating silly competitive games, such as inhaling anesthesia to see who will wake up first, or engaging in various obedience exercises orchestrated by their parents. Their reality is solely a product of their parent’s imagination, which includes the belief that Frank Sinatra is their grandfather and that the toy airplanes they find in their garden are those that they see flying overhead. Lathimos gives us no clue as to why the parents have raised their children under these conditions. There’s no indication that they are part of some religious cult, nor do they seem particularly insane. Is it merely a case of over-protectionism stemming from paranoia, or a radical example of isolationism? That we don’t know their motivation leaves us unsure how to respond to the film, for nearly every scene can be read as either darkly comical or disturbingly tragic. The framing is equally disconcerting, with heads often disappearing off the top of the screen, cut-off just as they are from society. Given the siblings’ circumstances, it’s unsurprising that there are hints of incest, but even beyond the film’s (very) explicit sequences there’s a sexually unsettling tone throughout. The appearance of two well-known Hollywood blockbusters from the Eighties will be the catalyst for the events in the final act, but Lanthimos isn’t going to let us off easily. The film’s inconclusive ending is perfectly suited to the world it so wonderfully creates.

こちらはアメリカ版Blu-rayですので、リージョンＡで、何も問題なく日本版のBlu-rayディスクと同様に、日本市販のBlu-rayプレーヤーで再生できます！ 本作『DOGTOOTH』(日本版タイトル『籠の中の乙女』)の日本版に関しては、DVDのみのリリースでしかもボカシ処理が異様ににひどく、正直、DVDリリース時でもこんなのでよくもソフト化したなという感じだったため、ちゃんとしたバージョンで、しかもBlu-rayの高画質・高音質で観ることができて、感謝しようにしきれないですm(_ _)m 本当に買えてよかったです！ ありがとうございます！