Kynodontas
Kynodontas (2009)
★★★ / ★★★★
We all know families that tend to overprotect their children. There are parents who purposely instill irrational fear in their children so their kids will behave or act proper in front of strangers. Some do it in order to discipline, a seemingly small price to pay for a bit silence at home. “Kynodontas,” daringly written by Efthymis Filippou and Giorgos Lanthimos, took the repercussions of parents who equate parenting as taking control and multipled it exponentially. The result was comedic and horrific, curious but effective. To say that “Dogtooth” was strange would be an understatement and simplistic. The patriarch (Christos Stergioglou) and matriarch (Michele Valley) of the family had connections to the real world. The mother acted as if she had never been outside of their property. She took comfort by hiding a telephone in the bedroom. Sometimes she would talk on the phone and her children would overhear. However, they believed that their mother had been talking to herself. The father, on the other hand, was free to go to work and shop for food. But he warned his children that the only way one could be safe outside of their property was to be inside a car. The three children in question (Hristos Passalis, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni) were actually adults. Two were relatively content with their sheltered existence but one yearned to explore what was out there. She wanted objects not found in their home so when a stranger (Anna Kalaitzidou) came to visit, the daughter was willing to perform oral sex in exchange for such objects. The film immediately caught my attention because I hypothesized that the parents were some sort of really dedicated scientists involved in a behavior modification program. I surmised that the kids were genetically related to them but they saw the trio as nothing more than lab rats (they often wore white or some bland color). But as the picture unfolded, that wasn’t the case at all. I was mortified that they were actually serious about raising these kids because they thought it was the right thing to do. They purposely taught their children incorrect names for certain objects. I watched with a furrowed brow and the most perplexed expression. For instance, at the dinner table, one of the daughters asked her mother if she could pass the telephone. I thought, “Why would you need the telephone when you’re eating?” Out of nowhere, the mother grabbed the salt and handed it to her daughter. I was so puzzled with what was happening but I was undoubtedly entertained. What was even stranger was the fact that as the film went on, I was able to catch on with the incorrect labels and I actually understood what they meant to say. In a way, I became a part of the experiment which made me feel somewhat uneasy. Audiences who crave something unusual will be delighted by this oddity. Watson and Skinner would be proud.
Not delighted so much as disturbingly amused at such histrionic restraint. Or operatic. Whatever. I like the file.
Do you speak Greek, by any chance?
I wish! (Because I’d like to live on one of its islands one day.) Why do you ask?
You titled the post after the the phonetically-Greek title, and the last time I saw someone do that they were trying to shove everyone’s face in how multilingual they were.
I’m multilingual, but I don’t shove it on everyone’s face. ;) I’m making it a habit to name the movies (at least on the title, phonetically if the language doesn’t use regular A,B,Cs…) by the original language they were released. Yup!
What languages do you speak?
(sorry, but I kind of dig languages)
Let’s see… English, French, Tagalog, Ilokano (another language in the Philippines), Spanish (but only read and understand).
Lucky. I can only speak a bit of French. Been trying for Russian. Though I’m not sure why I’m bitching about this in your comments.
Also, the next page is Deathtrap, and the arrow/link is pointing at your picture. I found this amusing.