Dogtooth

The creepiest image from the most uncomfortable  movie of the year.  And this was no horror movie. Probably closer to Black Comedy than anything if you are into the whole Genre thing.

Dogtooth  (Kyondatis) would have made my list of Top 10 surprises for 2010 had I seen it, but it didn't play at all in Seattle that I know of, and has yet to receive a DVD release.  I was only able to watch it through the good graces of Netflix Streaming Video.  I was surprised, all right, despite the film getting fantastic word of mouth in the underworld, by the rawness, the intensity, the ingenuity of the playing out of a scenario that could have gone terribly awry in lesser hands.  When they remake this in America, with, I dunno, Jennifer Lawrence in the role played by Angeliki Papoulia (above), with all the naughty bits excised and family values restored at the end, the thing will likely be a house of cards.

But fat chance of that remake.  Whereas Let the Right One In had the vampire hook that was able to seduce a big budget out of Hollywood, Dogtooth lacks what it takes for a mass audience.   It doesn't so much critique patriarchy (the Mother is complicit in everything), or anything, really, in the end.   But it has real bite.

And I will just come right out and say it:  every parent should see Dogtooth.  Even if they only see it mostly between the fingers of the hand held in front of the face.