Dogtooth (2009)

While some would argue that home-schooled kids don't get the same education as the rest, no one can deny that the home educated teens in Dogtooth receives an unparalleled education. The family, whose names are never said, lives remotely on a property resembling an oasis in a desert. The mother instructs the children, known only as the eldest daughter, younger daughter and the son, while the father is away at his job which appears to be managing a factory. He's the only person allowed to leave their house for reasons explained later in the film.

The father and mother create a structured life for their children. Nearly every second of their day is spent with each other learning strange skills and incorrect definitions for vocabulary words. As they're not allowed to leave the compound, they develop strong family ties (which progress into the uncomfortable). Their fragile worldview is in jeopardy when Christina, the security guard at the father's work who is paid to perform an odd task, tests the barriers between herself and the daughters.



Dogtooth is a messed up film. It has majorly dark overtones but a well-crafted script, and it's shot beautifully. Keep in mind that there is quite a bit of nudity, and the context might add to the uncomfortability. Beautifully dark film. Recommended.

Oscars 2011 Best Foreign Film Nominee

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

 

What starts as a supposedly straightforward tale of the evolution of street art and its keynote figure Banksy ends as a self-reflective indictment of not only the artists, but of art itself. Too many films ask the question “what is art?” Exit Through the Gift Shop takes up this question, punches it repeatedly in the mouth, blackmails all its family and friends, then delivers one final blow to knock it out before an answer can ever be reached. This is not to say the film is unsatisfactory. To say it is unsatisfactory would imply any semblance of satisfaction, at any point, throughout the film.

 This man is not Banksy. I don't think.

I, like many others, found Banksy’s art to be captivating at first, then quickly irrelevant upon his book’s arrival in Urban Outfitters. I, like many others, did not know that Banksy knew exactly how I felt. This is his response.

Some interesting reading for after viewing:
'Exit Through the Gift Shop' Confronts a New Claim

Oscars 2011 Best Documentary Feature Nominee