DOGTOOTH ON FILMSTRUCK

I browsed for quite a while on Filmstruck channel last night before I settled on Dogtooth, a dark psychological study of a family run by crazy, cruel parents.  It was dark and weird, but funny at times, and reminded me of the old Steve Martin gag about parents teaching kids the wrong words for things.  ("Teacher, may I be excused, I need to to go mambo dogface the banana patch.")  I  read a few reviews saying it was really messed up stuff, and a good but not great film.  There is violence, incest prescribed by the parents, and all sorts of crazy stuff, but it is so naively and mechanically enacted in isolation that it seems more like a study of human nature in a pathological system than just morbidity.  Basically the Garden of Eden as constructed by a couple of super sicko devil parents.

The young adult/kids are stuck in a compound of lies that their parents have constructed--and you can think about that in a lot of ways.  As a commentary about the power parents have.  As a commentary about authoritarian ideas, language, and sexuality.  In this age of gaslighting, topdown political dissonance and lying, it is very relevant, especially as a feminist film.  Maybe not "great" but unforgettable and remarkable and weird.  

In the end, you can knock down human life force in a lot of ways, but it will always rise, and that can get really weird.