It was something of a shocker when Giorgos Lanthimos‘ Dogtooth managed to snag a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the most recent Oscar ceremony. That’s not to say the film isn’t good — on the contrary, it’s a work of stunning power — but it’s precisely the kind of experimental, unsettling piece of cinema that Academy voters rarely rally behind. That ability to break through the barrier of traditional Oscar voting is only one of the many reasons why Lanthimos‘ follow-up, Alps, is so highly anticipated. And just after debuting to extremely positive reception at Venice, the first official clip from the film has dropped online. [indieWIRE]
I’ll start with Oliver Lyttelton’s review over at The Playlist because not only did he love the film, but he also made of point of mentioning the following: “We recommend you go in to ‘Alps’ as cold as possible. It’s not quite like anything you’ve seen (its closest relative being, well, ‘Dogtooth’), and part of its pleasure is watching it play out…We’re glad we saw it the way we did: knowing only a brief synopsis, and nothing else.” With that in mind, glance over the following reviews and the first clip at your own discretion.
In Contention‘s Guy Lodge writes, “It’d be rash to call [‘Alps’] a better film than ‘Dogtooth,’ but it is, in the relative scheme of these things, a bigger one, and exciting evidence of restless formal development on the part of its director.” THR‘s Todd McCarthy echoes the praise, saying, “‘Alps’…is…bizarre and elliptical…and like its offbeat predecessors has an inexplicable power to draw the viewer into its hermetic web of inhuman relationships.” Finally, The Guardian‘s Xan Brooks (“Follow the film-maker. Let him lead you by the nose. Lanthimos knows exactly where he’s going”) and Variety‘s Boyd Van Hoeij (“Lanthimos again displays an impressive formal command that extends from the screenplay to the pic’s technical prowess”) contribute to the acclaim.
If it continues to play well, Alps could throw Lanthimos into the Oscar game once again. We’ll have to wait and see. The more important thing is that he seems to have made another startlingly original film that I, for one, can’t wait to check out.
What did you think of the clip? Have you seen Dogtooth?