‘Dogtooth’ 3 1/2 stars
Or, “The Kids Aren’t All Right.” In a secluded area near a city in Greece, a well-to-do factory manager and his wife are raising three children, now young adults. Everything they have been taught is off-kilter at best: a salt shaker, for example, is a “telephone,” and airplanes in the sky are just tiny toy airplanes out of reach. At a dinner party, Dad asks the kids if they want to hear grandpa sing. They do. Then he plays an LP of Frank Sinatra’s ” Fly Me to the Moon.”
What is going on here? The co-writer and director Yorgos Lanthimos has created a sick joke of a scenario which, miraculously, sustains itself to the end. “Dogtooth” plays like an instructional video full of behavior-modification vignettes.
The father hires a factory security guard, female, to service his son. The daughters are intrigued. Incestuous possibilities hover in the air. The security guard tempts the “kids” with videocassette copies of “Rocky” and “Flashdance.” As these ancient pop-culture artifacts — forbidden fruit — are introduced into the siblings’ lives, the results provoke a series of startling recriminations. The violence is startlingly matter-of-fact, and sometimes self-inflicted.
Lanthimos comes from the theater, where absurdist allegories such as “Dogtooth” are more common than they are on screen, even on the festival circuit. (“Dogtooth” won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes two years ago.)
Shot in a calm, dispassionate style, acted with supreme deadpan authority, this film is a paradox, at once blunt and ambiguous. I’ve seen it twice, and while it’s not always easy to watch, it gets under your skin while getting at an idea or two regarding parenting and totalitarian instincts and the mystery of the survival instinct.
No MPAA rating (violence, nudity, sexuality, language). Plays Fri.-Thu. at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St. Running time: 1: 36. In Greek with English subtitles.
— Michael Phillips
‘Breaking Upwards’
Daryl Wein’s clever “Breaking Upwards” comes knocking at the door like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, draping reality in a fictional romantic comedy about a 20-something NYC couple named Daryl and Zoe whose relationship is coming apart.
The film stars Wein and girlfriend Zoe Lister-Jones (as Daryl and Zoe) and is based on their experience trying to build themselves a better breakup.
They also wrote (with Peter Duchan), produced and, in Lister-Jones’ case, handled catering and wrote all the lyrics for the film’s original soundtrack by composer Kyle Forester.
All of which works to give “Breaking Upwards” a DIY mumblecore vibe, including its very engaging conversational style, but thanks to Wein, there is less mumble, more core from the story and the cast.
The film opens with a telling midsex moment — he’s half-heartedly trying and she just wants it to be over, a general malaise tangled up in the sheets. Though there is conflict around every corner, it’s all very civilized as they plot out the rules of their disengagement, deciding on days off from each other and figuring out whether the relationship should be salvaged or scrapped.
To the overriding question, is a good breakup possible, the answer seems to be a qualified yes. Certainly, Wein and Lister-Jones, who has racked up credits with smaller roles in larger films, including “State of Play” with Russell Crowe, are enjoyable to watch as they create their single selves: Zoe, an actress just cast in an off-Broadway production, and Daryl, toggling between a baby-sitting gig and making short films on his computer.
No MPAA rating. Running time: 1:28. Opens Friday at Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave.
— Betsy Sharkey, Tribune Newspapers critic
‘9500 Liberty’
A building boom requiring cheap labor (since replaced by a foreclosure epidemic) sharply increased Virginia’s Prince William County’s Latino population, now about 20 percent. Conservative longtime residents eagerly jumped on a bandwagon driven by Greg Letiecq, president of the illegal-immigration crackdown organization Help Save Manassas. His blog features lurid descriptions of crimes — only those committed by Latinos — and at one point suggested the area was being invaded by armed revolutionary Zapatistas.
But in fact, overall crime has declined, and a resolution — requiring police to question anyone they have “probable cause” to suspect of being an illegal alien — has a disastrous impact in already tough times. Latinos threatened with separation from individual family members, or stopped regularly for bogus reasons (e.g., “slightly bent license plate”), take their purchasing power to friendlier businesses elsewhere or leave the area entirely, draining Prince William’s tax base.
The vast majority of local Hispanics are naturalized citizens appalled by what an activist calls official “permission to treat people of color like dirt.” Other significant voices of reason include two fed-up middle-class Caucasian moms, as well as Police Chief Charlie Deane — a much-loved figure who opposes the resolution because, for one thing, it could make his department a magnet for racial profiling lawsuits.
Vivid personalities, hot emotions and Machiavellian politics make “9500 Liberty” potent storytelling, albeit without much resolution.
No MPAA rating. Running time: 1:20. Opens Friday at the AMC Pipers Alley. Director Eric Byler will be present for Q&A for the Friday and Saturday evening showings.
— Dennis Harvey, Variety
