(Issue 83) Dayin Niche Film Festival
——"Dog Tooth" is currently the best of 2018
Lawn, swimming pool, big house, a family of five fenced off a "utopia". Here the meaning of language is re-given, any unfortunate indecent words are interpreted as neutral meaning, zombies are yellow flowers, bitches are roof lights. The only bad thing is an uncontrollable scary creature called "Cat"
Jumping out of the mainstream values, just in terms of lifestyle, as a parent's choice, it is understandable, but as a chosen child, it appears innocent and boring. Children lose the right to grow freely and are domesticated like dogs. When a person is kept in a comfort zone and loses his autonomy, is he still a person?
In particular, I want to say that the sex scenes in the film. It should have been a scene full of eroticism, but it has become a routine existence, no longer shy and ambiguous, no lust, no longer beautiful, just makes people feel bored and dull
The father made all the rules, there was no free will. He said that when the canine teeth fell out, they grew up. The explanation of the first sentence is that the canine teeth can no longer fall off, and the child cannot grow up. When the rebellious child makes up his mind and smashes his teeth, although the pain is piercing, he has a growing smile. She thought she could be free after experiencing the painful coming of age ceremony, but she didn't realize that what she lost could never be regained, and the independence she thought could never be achieved. The canine teeth lost by the eldest sister will never grow back, and her expectations are in vain. What awaits her is just a tragedy. Her mind is still confined to the previous dogma, unable to know herself, unable to escape
This film has a lot of thinking points, and its meaning is not only political, but its extension is very wide. We talked about social construction, families of origin, totalitarian systems, learned helplessness, lies and beliefs, singularity and pluralism. The film itself does not have much language, not many characters, not many scenes, and not many plots. It only shows a special period of a special family, but it leaves a lot to people in terms of many blank spaces and well-designed meanings. space for discussion
What kind of life do you want? What kind of society are you in? The impact of cultural education on a person? Changes in Mindset by Parenting Behaviors? What is real and what is meaningful?
The answers to these questions vary, but I always believe that the plural is more interesting than the singular. Even this is an illusion, even if one's own choices can lead to devastating mistakes. But at least we have more possibilities to choose one of more options with shackles, instead of going numb to the same road
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