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Movies / On DVD / Dog Days
Dog Days

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Dog Days (2002)

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Reviews Counted:33

Fresh:16

Rotten:17

Average Rating:5.4/10

Consensus: A relentlessly disturbing, depressing work.

Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: DOG DAYS is a scathing satire, exposing the ugly underbelly of contemporary suburban mores. It is the first dramatic feature of notorious documentarian Ulrich Seidl (ANIMAL LOVE). With a keen... DOG DAYS is a scathing satire, exposing the ugly underbelly of contemporary suburban mores. It is the first dramatic feature of notorious documentarian Ulrich Seidl (ANIMAL LOVE). With a keen visual sense and lacerating wit, Seidl weaves together the sordid tales of a large group of people in suburban Austria during a heat wave. There's the Greek divorced couple who continue to live together, miserable and haunted by the memory of their young daughter's death. There's the alarm system salesman who has to find a scapegoat when the cars in a housing complex that he has serviced are vandalized. There's the desperate older woman whose sadistic boyfriend brings a friend along to watch him humiliate her. There's the elderly control freak who weighs every item he's bought at the supermarket when he gets home. Tying them all together is Anna (Maria Hofstatter), who hitches rides to nowhere, verbally assaulting those who pick her up with a constant barrage of inane top ten lists, advertising jingles, and embarrassing personal questions. Seidl gets solid performances from his cast, many of whom are not professional actors. For those who can stomach it, he offers a compelling glimpse of hell on earth. This film was included in the 31st New Directors/New Films 2002 series presented by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Department of Film and Media of The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. [More]

Starring: Maria Hofstatter, Christine Jirku, Victor Henneman, Georg Friedrich

Starring: Maria Hofstatter, Christine Jirku, Victor Henneman, Georg Friedrich, Alfred Mrva, Erich Finsches, Gerti Lehner, Franziska Weiss, Rene Wanko, Claudia Martini, Victor Rathbone

Director: Ulrich Seidl

Director: Ulrich Seidl
Screenwriter: Ulrich Seidl, Veronika Franz
Producer: Helmut Grasser, Philippe Bober

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Dog Days

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Missing ... is any real feeling of compassion towards these forlorn individuals, any sense of the humanity that lies beneath the grotesque façades.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
08/26/02
Tom Dawson
Tom Dawson
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
10/02/02
Guardian [UK]
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sight and Sound | comment Comment
10/06/04
Sight and Sound
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

lewd and lurid

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
07/30/09
Chris Cabin
Chris Cabin
Filmcritic.com

This startling debut fiction feature goes to great, hectoring lengths to prove its final line: 'People are so cruel' -- a judgment from which the filmmaker himself is presumably not exempt.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
08/19/03
Dennis Lim
Dennis Lim
Village Voice

This is a lament on the human condition, free of scented roses and free of solemnity.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
10/03/03
Edward Guthmann
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle

An engrossing and disturbing film that feels like a Dogma 95 film made by Todd Haynes.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
07/16/03
Elvis Mitchell
Elvis Mitchell
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Dark, probing, and truly disturbing, Seidl's astonishing feature debut explores angst, anomie, and alientaion in Vienna's upscale suburbs in visually audacious mode that goes beyond Todd Solondz and Todd Haynes.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
06/13/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

Oddly compelling, disturbing -- some might say disturbed -- look at suburban life, Austrian style.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
01/29/04
Eric Harrison
Eric Harrison
Houston Chronicle

A masterpiece of misanthropy...an uncompromisingly bleak reverie on human misery and meanness.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
12/30/03
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

The land of Mozart seems now inhabited by looney tunes.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
08/13/03
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

The film does generate a unique level of intensity, and even the most harrowing scenes contain grace and humour.

Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
03/13/02
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson
eye WEEKLY

Seidl's "Days" is a gritty mess.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
06/06/02
Jon Popick
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

No one here is beyond redemption. What leads one to suspect that Seidl is far more than a cold sensationalist is his ability to find that flicker of humanity in even his most wretched characters.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
08/21/03
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Strangely entertaining.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
01/08/04
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A remarkable, deeply disturbing work by a brilliant filmmaker.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
02/04/04
Michael Wilmington
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune

What some detect as cruelty in Dog Days is in fact a bleak but deeply felt humanism -- a yearning that we might all learn to better love our neighbors and, perhaps more importantly, ourselves.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
01/08/04
Scott Foundas
Scott Foundas
L.A. Weekly

[Seidl] is a talented man with things to say. And he says them, whether or not you approve or even care to listen. We applaud that.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
08/21/03
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating; UK critics are listed first)
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