"Hundstage" or "Dog Days" is an award-winning Austrian 2-hour film from 15 years ago written and directed by Ulrich Seidl. And while I did not think this was a bad movie, I must say that I prefer his more recent works, especially his "Paradise" trilogy which is quite a thing of beauty. Seidl's approach, however, is certainly visible in here too. His films always have a dark and slightly depressing take on love and especially sexuality. You should also not be surprised to see graphic nudity in here, but I think it was working in the context as it simply belonged to the story. It is basically the "Paradise" trilogy packed in one movie as we follow the fates and sexual identities of a whole bunch of people that have very loose connections to each other. Nonetheless I have to say that I was not too well entertained while watching this film. It could have been shorter I think and still would not have lost and of its substantial message, but this way it felt a bit overblown. And occasionally I also felt that the stories were just written in a way to be as controversial as possible and not really as means of telling a great movie. The actors still do a good job, especially Maria Hofstätter once again. Finally, even German speakers may have problems with the thick Austrian accents in here, even if I found most of it was not too difficult to understand. So just in case make sure you have subtitles. Overall, I was slightly underwhelmed by this film. Seidl has done better on several occasions.
Review of Dog Days
