Dog Days (2001)

I love this movie so much

Good movie but grossly overrated

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Austrian film-maker Ulrich Seidl is known for his documentary-style cinema that subjects the oftentimes dreary everyday life to a closer examination. In his famous "Paradies"-trilogy he studied "Liebe", "Glaube" and "Hoffnung" in 3 movies and showed how sordid reality can look when confronted with human ideals. In "Dog Days" there are no ideals – we observe people – most of them downtrodden and hopeless in their aspirations – surviving the hottest days of a merciless Viennese summer. 6 different episodes are intertwined to offer a disturbing medley of sex, violence, desperation, examples of pettiness and greater evils: a security salesman is confronted with a lot of pressure to track down a vandal - a mentally retarded woman hitchhikes through her day and gets on the nerves of the drivers - an estranged couple is forced to live together even though they have nothing to say to each other - a female music teacher feels fatally drawn to an antisocial brute is abused and gets her (involuntary) revenge later on… - an old man, who otherwise spends a lonely uneventful life, celebrates the marriage anniversary even though his wife is long deceased - a teenage- looking stripper is harassed by her pathologically jealous boyfriend These episodes are more or less interconnected (rather less) but certainly not as artfully interwoven in a masterpiece like "Magnolia". It has to be questioned whether an overall message is intended except for the existentialist layer that mirrors the fundamental misery these people are in. The first premise of making such a movie was – according to the director – that conflicts are more likely to erupt under the sweltering conditions of a midsummer heatwave. Fittingly, the characters appear to be permanently on the edge, ready to yield to violent outbursts, ready to leave the confines of common sense. The second premise that makes the movie special is that Seidl almost exclusively relied on non-professionals who were asked to improvise most of the scenes as there was no real screenplay.Apparently, the desired effect was a heightened level of authenticity in the depiction of everyday reality. However, as Seidl laconically remarked in an interview, it is impossible to imitate reality in all of its horror and depravity. Well, this movie certainly represents a valiant effort: filming bloated beer bellies sweating in the unforgiving sun sets the aesthetic tone for a movie that does not shy away from showing not- quite-attractive middle- aged women and men engaging in a porno. The overarching theme is the subjugation of women in a male-dominated society as almost every episode makes its contribution. Especially hard to watch is the excessive party where the female teacher is ridiculed and abused by her rowdy boyfriend and his younger pal…. "Hundstage" is in many respects the very opposite of light-hearted entertainment – if there is love, it is doomed to turn into misery. If there is comic relief, it is only by the absurdity of what is shown and by the futility of human efforts. The undoubted authenticity is the strongest quality of a movie that may leave you with a bland feeling. "Hundstage" falls definitely short of true greatness as the story lacks coherence and the episodes seem arbitrarily chosen. However, as an unblinking study of the human condition, it works just fine.

Austria is my least favourite European country and this film sums it up a treat. Like Germany or Holland without the humour factor. This is Ulrich Seidl's best film to date. Self parody, like a lot of Austrian cinema, such as Import/Export and most of Michael Haneke's output. Brilliant film-making. An experimental documentary-style study of depressed characters in a depressing suburb in Austria during a summer heatwave. A thought-provoking film and its conclusions are pretty damning on the whole. But not for everyones viewing. There is no plot and therefore the viewer is forced to continue to watch the six character stories or observations in order to see the point of it all. Rather slow-paced, it deals with everyday life's madness. A collection of 6 parallel stories - more like incidents from the most miserable people'e everyday life. It shows people humiliating other people and being cruel to other people. It shows the inability of people to communicate or talk with others. It is also one of those films that you have to watch again and again just in case you missed something. Hundstage is an intentionally ugly study of life in a dreary suburb of Vienna. I could be based in any other tidy and organised Austrian city. As observational cinema it is a little gem - and very challenging.So much better than the standard Hollywood carp we are all fed these days.

The problem I find with this title is that I am not sure if the director is trying to produce a documentary or movie. A blend of the two genres just doesn't work and that leaves the whole thing hung in the middle of nowhere. This is more so as the director has picked the most extremes of what is supposed to be happening around our everyday life making it an unconvincing documentary. If it is meant to be a thriller/drama this is too dull and monotonous. In either case, what is the moral or the message which the director is trying to convey to the audience? That around us there are people who ill-treat others who are willing to be ill-treated? That there are many crazy lunatics around us? So..........so what?

This movie sucks ass. Something about a heatwave in some European country, complete trash. There's nothing going for this movie whatsoever. maybe 30 seconds of sex but that's it. There is a very annoying chick who hitches rides with people and really pisses me off. This movie is complete rash and you shouldn't subject yourself to watching it. I regret it it's very boring. I would rate it zero but i can't. No body in their right mind should see this. i'm sure you'll regret it completely i did. How could they think up something this bad. Even Mystery men was better. MYSTERY MEN. That sucks. That movie wasn't worth being made. complete waste of time. The characters in this are very hard to understand and i good very very very bored.