ALPS is Giorgos Lanthimos' fourth film but might be considered his sophomore effort in terms of international attention (if one discounts ATTENBERG, which he produced and acted in), and fans expecting more along the lines of DOGTOOTH will be disappointed. A group of people - who perform as substitutes for the recently deceased for their bereaved love ones christen themselves "Alps" because: 1) the name in no way reveals the purpose of their organization, and 2) no mountain can substitute for the Alps, but the Alps can replace any other mountain. Their numbers include their fierce leader (Aris Servetalis, SMALL CRIME), a stern gymnastics coach (Johnny Vekris), his emotionally-frail student (Ariane Labed), and a nurse (DOGTOOTH's Aggeliki Papoulia). The group of four provide comfort but also escape into their roles: the coach like his relationship as the substitute husband of a blind woman, the nurse feels stifled by her awkward relationship with her widowed father, while the gymnast seeks approval with parental figures other than her coach (finally swiping a role from the nurse that gave her the best opportunity to escape into something like a normal life, even at the cost of disappointing the bereaved parents she is supposed to be comforting with her substitute presence). Lanthimos reigns in the kink and parses out the abrupt violence as well as the bizarre pop culture references (while Papoulia hand done a FLASHDANCE homage in DOGTOOTH, here Servetalis strikes an amusing Bruce Lee ENTER THE DRAGON pose, and Labed tries to do Prince only to be told he isn't dead). Not impenetrable, but also not as straightforward as DOGTOOTH.