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DOG DAYS
Directed by: Ulrich Seidl.
Produced by: Helmut Grasser & Philippe Bober.
Written by: Seidl & Veronika Franz.
Director of Photography: Wolfgang Thaler.
Edited by: Andrea Wagner & Christof Schertenleib.
Released by: Leisure Time.
Country of Origin: Austria. 128 min. Not Rated.
With: Maria Hofstatter, Gerti Lehner & Claudia Martini.

A corpulent body lays out roasting in the sun next to the backyard satellite dish. Verdant lawns surround rows of identical houses. McDonald's and car lots line the freeways. This could be any suburb. Like Robert Altman's Short Cuts, this is a multi-story take on man's cruelty and, more specifically, misogyny. During a sweltering summer, an autistic-like woman, Anna (Hofstatter), spends her days hitchhiking and talking incessantly, probing her drivers, "Do you wake up with a hard on?" "Do you still get your period?" She's like an innocent and misunderstood waif found in a Lars von Trier film (Dancer in the Dark). Like von Trier, director Seidl dares you to want her punished. And following this film's pattern, she will predictably endure violence, physically and sexually. When we first see another woman (Martini), she is straddling one man while fellating another. At home, she and her ex-husband torment each other by ignoring the other's existence. They're like Edward Albee's Martha and George without dialogue. He wanders the hallway relentlessly throwing a ball against the walls while she is having sex with her masseur. Siedl has cast a mixture of actors and obvious non-professionals. The sixty-ish woman playing a compliant housekeeper (Lehner) who completely strips for her lover/employer is hesitant and awkward, aware of the camera. Another scene, a violent drunken romp, is one improvised scene that goes on too long with the players grasping for dialogue. And because none of the passive women fight back, but are instead wounded doormats, the film offers no surprises, only attempts to shock. Its detached, documentary-like tone further distances the viewer from the characters. Redundant and too long, the abrasive Dog Days is purely a festival film, too esoteric for a general, let alone an art house audience. KT
August 22, 2003