Dog Days (Hundstage) (2001)

48% of critics liked it
(33 reviews)
68% of users liked it
(2,485 ratings)

Famed for his controversial documentaries Models and Animal Love, Ulrich Seidl makes his first fiction film with this impassioned attack on the banality and emptiness of modern suburban life. Using a documentary shooting style and mostly non-actors, Seidl weaves together a series of vignette story… More Famed for his controversial documentaries Models and Animal Love, Ulrich Seidl makes his first fiction film with this impassioned attack on the banality and emptiness of modern suburban life. Using a documentary shooting style and mostly non-actors, Seidl weaves together a series of vignette story lines into a tapestry of loneliness and quiet desperation. A retired old man obsesses over meaningless information in life -- the weight of his groceries, and noise level of the neighborhood. A faded beauty queen's devotion to her boyfriend ends after an ugly night at the discotheque. A couple who has long since divorced though still lives under the same roof engages in a psychological war of attrition, trying to force the other into moving out the house. A young teacher's date with her boyfriend turns unexpectedly into a drunken orgy. This film won the prestigious Golden Lion at the 2001 Venice Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 2 hr. 1 min.
Directed By: Ulrich Seidl
Written By: Ulrich Seidl, Veronika Franz
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Jan 1, 2001 Wide
On DVD: Apr 13, 2004

Critic Reviews

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
A remarkable, deeply disturbing work by a brilliant filmmaker.
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle
Oddly compelling, disturbing -- some might say disturbed -- look at suburban life, Austrian style.
Manohla Dargis, Los Angeles Times
Strangely entertaining.
Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News
A parade of sadism and misanthropy.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
A long slog through the slough of despond.
Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
This is a lament on the human condition, free of scented roses and free of solemnity.
Chris Cabin, Filmcritic.com
lewd and lurid
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Director Ulrich Seidl presents a mean spirited satire of Austrian suburbia in this ugly movie that is quite possibly the worst film (foreign or domestic) of 2003.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Dark, probing, and truly disturbing, Seidl's astonishing feature debut explores angst, anomie, and alientaion in Vienna's upscale suburbs in visually audacious mode that goes beyond Todd Solondz and Todd Haynes.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...it's the second half that kills Dog Days.
Matt Bailey, Not Coming to a Theater Near You
Stylistically void, intellectually vapid, narratively coarse, and exploitative of its actors in the worst possible way, the film is an abject failure on every level.
Brent Simon, Entertainment Today
Mosaic filmmaking at its most irresolute... [its few affecting] moments are antiseptic, sealed off from any larger relatable context or emotional arc.
Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News
Those who know that human beings are more than just the sum of their worst impulses ... will wonder where the rest of the story went.
Kevin Courrier, Boxoffice Magazine
'People can be so cruel,' one character says after finding a poisoned animal. Judging by Dog Days, so can movie directors.
Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly
What some detect as cruelty in 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.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
A masterpiece of misanthropy...an uncompromisingly bleak reverie on human misery and meanness.

Read all 16 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Featured Audience Ratings

Dean M

Quite perfect film about life in Vienna, Austria. This film isn't for the faint of heart. It's like <i>Happiness</i> with explicit sex and a less optimistic view of humanity. There's animal poisoning, a strip-tease from a senior citizen, an orgy… More
Quite perfect film about life in Vienna, Austria. This film isn't for the faint of heart. It's like <i>Happiness</i> with explicit sex and a less optimistic view of humanity. There's animal poisoning, a strip-tease from a senior citizen, an orgy 'esque' bathouse in a shopping centre, anal candle penetration, and the molestation of the mentally incompetent. Filmmaker Ulrich Seidl has no interest in redeeming humanity here. And why should he? This film features excellent performances from all involved, is always interesting, and is probably the most intelligent social statement to be made on film in awhile.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]Set in a heat wave in Austria, "Dog Days" is about four couples, ranging from old to young, genial to one-sided bullying that with the exception of the youngest couple, are linked by Hruby(Alfred Mrva), a security salesman, and Anna(Maria Hofstatter), an… More
[font=Century Gothic]Set in a heat wave in Austria, "Dog Days" is about four couples, ranging from old to young, genial to one-sided bullying that with the exception of the youngest couple, are linked by Hruby(Alfred Mrva), a security salesman, and Anna(Maria Hofstatter), an idiot savant hitchhiker. The movie's central themes are alienation and how material items cannot buy happiness but those themes have been handled much better elsewhere. And it does not help that the characters are undeveloped and the plot is thin to say the least.[/font]
Quinto W

It's a very thin line between wanting to turn this movie off and laughing histerically-- I fall under the latter category, which I'm not sure how exactly it makes me feel. The characters are strange and annoying (I wanted to kick that hitchhiker in the face), yet completely… More
It's a very thin line between wanting to turn this movie off and laughing histerically-- I fall under the latter category, which I'm not sure how exactly it makes me feel. The characters are strange and annoying (I wanted to kick that hitchhiker in the face), yet completely fascinating.
Wu C

A real downer that drags quite abit. Bad characters in uncomfortable situations.

Cast

Maria Hofstätter
as Anna the Hitchhiker
Christine Jirku
as Teacher
Victor Hennemann
as Her Lover

Georg Friedrich
as Lucky
Alfred Mrva
as Alarm Man
Erich Finsches
as Old Man

See full cast

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Dog Days (Hundstage) (2001)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Dean M

Walter M

Quinto W

Wu C

Cast

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