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MichaelMargetis

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It's nothing brilliant, groundbreaking or innovative, but 'Dog Days' is for some reason an extremely fascinating characater study. It's like CRASH on crystal meth, but not really. It's an Austrian film following the lives of several depressed,...
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It's nothing brilliant, groundbreaking or innovative, but 'Dog Days' is for some reason an extremely fascinating characater study. It's like CRASH on crystal meth, but not really. It's an Austrian film following the lives of several depressed, derang...(read more)ed and annoying people and their abusive relationships with each other. It's disturbing, yet very well-acted and it's interesting to watch the crazy little things these characters do. Certainly not for the weak-hearted, this highly pessimistic film offers no conclusion or revelation at the end, we just see the lives of these sordid individuals over the course of two days. Grade: B

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Posted jun 30, 2007 8:22 am pt

• [+] Chicago Tribune
  
  100
  Be forewarned: Dog Days, like many of Seidel's films, will drive some moviegoers to rage and walkouts with its unrelentingly depressing tone. But it also a remarkable, deeply disturbing work by a brilliant filmmaker.

  by Michael Wilmington | Read Full Review »
• [+] Variety
  
  90
  An acid portrait of contemporary Austria (and by extension, the whole middle class) as unspeakably dull, violent and stupid. The film itself, miraculously, is just the opposite: vibrantly inventive, aesthetically rigorous, sardonic and occasionally quite brilliant.

  by Deborah Young | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  80
  The believability comes from the casting: he has found a group of actors and nonprofessionals who interact spectacularly well.

  by A.O. Scott | Read Full Review »
• [+] New York Post
  
  75
  Dog Days has much in common with "Code Unknown" -- both dart among several characters who may occasionally cross paths.

  by V.A. Musetto | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  75
  His (Seidl) camera is shocking in its intimacy, his film surprisingly casual in its depiction of extreme behavior and the randomness of violence.

  by Edward Guthmann | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Hollywood Reporter
  
  70
  Willfully provocative, much like a small child performing outrageous acts just to get some attention.

  by Frank Scheck | Read Full Review »
• [+] TV Guide
  
  70
  Looks very much like a documentary: It's grainy and raw, and Seidl's actors -- a mix of actors and non-professionals -- are often unglamorously posed under what appears to be natural light.

  by Ken Fox | Read Full Review »
• [+] LA Weekly
  
  70
  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.

  by Scott Foundas | Read Full Review »
• [+] Los Angeles Times
  
  70
  Strangely entertaining.

  by Manohla Dargis | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Reader
  
  50
  Occasionally provocative but frequently wearying.

  by Richard M. Porton | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  50
  It is admirable and well-made, but unutterably depressing and unredeemed by any glimmer of hope.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Village Voice
  
  50
  Dog Days adheres dogmatically to the school of sado-miserablism that Seidl's compatriots Michael Haneke and Jessica Hausner have turned into something of a national industry (non-Austrian adherents abound too, from Gaspar Noé to Harmony Korine).

  by Dennis Lim | Read Full Review »
• [+] Christian Science Monitor
  
  50
  Some scenes of Ulrich Seidl's first fiction feature (he's already a respected documentary maker) are so brutal and degrading that they're hard to watch. Others are highly atmospheric and sometimes quite funny.

  by David Sterritt | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Onion (A.V. Club)
  
  50
  Working with non-professional actors, Seidl emphasizes their ordinariness to the point of cartoonish ridicule, putting them in scenarios either banal, perverse, or both at the same time.

  by Scott Tobias | Read Full Review »