DOGTOOTH

I just watched a really surprising movie. I had no idea what I was getting myself into with Dogtooth. It's a Greek film about a family who keeps their 3 young adult children fenced in on their property in the countryside and controls their knowledge of the world. Only the dad is allowed to step outside the fence to go to work. If a word enters the household that the kids don't understand, the parents invent a definition for it- for example, the mother explains to her son that a "zombie" is a small yellow flower. The only outsider allowed on the property is a security guard from the factory the father manages. She is paid to satisfy the sexual needs of the son and she must ride in the car blindfolded on the way to and from the house. This outsider's presence creates a kink in the family's idyllic invented world and that's where the trouble begins.
The story is nonchalantly disturbing; some kind of alternative horror film. I found the intentional non contextualization effective in a frustrating way. When a movie makes us guess or draw conclusions, we get a bit annoyed and on some level just wish they would show us or tell us what they mean. But then you see a movie that does all the work for you and it's crap. For me, this was a fantastic movie. I would recommend it to a person who is really into movies. But probably not to the average blockbuster movie goer. Be forewarned of the sexual content. Be prepared to think.