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Dogtooth (2009)
It’s been almost two decades since a Yorgos Lanthimos movie could be called “experimental” in the formal sense. And yet most of the celebrated absurdist’s movies treat basic human relationships like an experiment. None more so than Dogtooth, his 2009 international breakout, which screens Sept. 27 at the Tomorrow Theater ahead of Lanthimos’ newest Emma Stone collaboration, Bugonia, hitting theaters Oct. 31.
Without rationale or explanation, Dogtooth drops the audience into the isolated compound of a cloistral Greek family, whose patriarch (Christos Stergioglou) has trapped his adult kids in a state of suspended childhood through brainwashing schemes. We assume he’s lied to them about the outside world’s dangers, though some lies seem just for kicks, like feeding these seeming 13-year-olds in 30-year-old bodies the wrong definitions of “excursion” and “carbine.”
This is lo-fi unhinged Lanthimos, but like all his movies, Dogtooth exists somewhere between allegory and comedic exaggeration. You recognize the dynamics of all families in this hellscape—parents lying to protect, sexual projections, sibling rivalries turned pathological—just with the perversion cranked up to 11. For what it’s worth, the versions of Dogtooth currently streaming are standard definition, so the 4K restoration playing Sept. 27 is much-awaited fun for the whole family.
Also Playing:
Academy: Son of the White Mare (1981), Basic Instinct (1992) and Spaceballs (1981), Sept. 24 and 25. Oldboy (2003), The Parallax View (1974) and Rock ’n’ Roll High School (1979), Sept. 26–Oct. 2. Cinema 21: The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and Chasing Chimeras (2025), Sept. 24. Notorious (1946), Sept. 25. Yi Yi (2000), Sept. 24–Oct. 2. Beau Travail (1999), Sept. 24 and 27. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Sept. 25, 27 and 28. Moonlight (2016), Sept. 26 and 27. Harold and Maude (1971), Sept. 26. Lost Highway (1997), Sept. 27 and 30. Tootsie (1982), Sept. 27. Tangerine (2015), Sept. 28. 8 ½ (1963), Sept. 29. Cinemagic: Evil Dead (2013) and Evil Dead Rise (2023), Sept. 24. The Evil Dead (1984), Sept. 25. 1408 (2007), Sept. 26. The Sting (1975), Sept. 27–29. All the President’s Men (1976), Sept. 28 and 30. Clinton: Crazy Love (1968), Sept. 24. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Sept. 27. The Death of Stalin (2017), Sept. 30. Cult Classics: The Monster Squad (1987), Sept. 28. Hollywood: Serenity (2005), Sept. 24. His Motorbike, Her Island (1986), Sept. 25. The Invitation (2015), Sept. 26. Killer of Sheep (1978), Sept. 27. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and Naked Ambition (2023), Sept. 28. Taxi zum Klo (1980), Sept. 30. Tomorrow: The Persian Version (2023), Sept. 26. The Favourite (2018) and Dogtooth (2009), Sept. 27. Linda Linda Linda (2005) and Paris Is Burning (1990), Sept. 28.
