The Lobster (B or 3/4 stars)
Mainstream audiences beware. 'The Lobster' (directed/co-written by Yorgos Lanthimos, whose bizarre 'Dogtooth' was nominated for Best Foreign film a few yrs. ago at the Oscars) - while receiving some great-looking reviews - is NOT a film for the faint of heart. Simply put, it is one of the most bizarre films I've seen in a long time and, plenty of audiences will be disappointed as they left the theater ... but I wasn't. Set in a strange, dystopian future, this film is an existential-if-intriguing allegory about society's obsession with pairing people up. Straight, gay, whichever -- in the society of this film, you cannot exist as a human being unless you find your absolutely compatible soul mate for marriage. If you can't, you transform and join the ever-growing animal population of the world.
When his wife leaves him for another man, architect David (Colin Farrell) knows that society dictates that he must find another wife, pronto. To facilitate finding a potential mate, he checks-in to a spa-like hotel where he has only 45 days to find another compatible partner or face "transformation" into an animal of his choice. Most people want to be a dog (which is why there are so many of them, funny concept). But David chooses to become a lobster if all else fails. The hotel manager (Olivia Colman) sternly explains the regulated schedule required of him & other newbies – there's a man who lisps (John C. Reilly), another man has a limp (Ben Whishaw), a woman prone to nosebleeds (Jessica Barden), & one who is mean/heartless (Angeliki Papoulia). The man with a lisp must fall for someone with a lisp, etc.. While a 'maid' facilitates sexual arousal for these people {another enticingly odd concept}, masturbation is completely forbidden.
A surprise to no one, the 'guests' grow increasingly desperate under the pressure to find a must-be-compatible companion within 45 days. When a match IS made, there is a party & 'honeymoon', of sorts (in a boat on a lake). If couples start to argue, children are assigned to them. "It usually helps", declares the manager. With his lobster re-incarnation looming, David feigns being mean so as to pair-up with the heartless woman. But disaster strikes when David can't deal with one particularly morbid 'mean' act, and so, he flees into the forest, joining 'The Loners', a resistance group led by a militant leader (Lea Seydoux). She enforces her own set of nightmarish rules, forbidding any flirting or relationships whatsoever (the opposite of society's norm). But then ... David meets his real soul mate in a short-sighted woman (Rachel Weisz). Love is in the air, but they're only able to hide their feelings for each other from the militant leader for so long. Craziness ensues.
With his Dogtooth and now this film, Yorgos Lanthimos is proving to be quite the provocative filmmaker. This bizarre-but-fascinating dystopian dramedy provides a nightmare for grown-ups to contemplate ... could YOU imagine living in this society where you're pressured to find your soul mate or face transformation into an animal? It's crazy weird, but thought-provoking to say the least. Lanthimos' auteur-eye is distinctly cold. The camerawork here is beautiful, yet bleak. The pace of the film is slow, but not uninteresting. The characters all speak in clipped, robotic tones; trying to stifle as much emotion as possible. Sounds fun, right!? Haha.
Sudden bursts of pitch black humor, uproarious behaviors, raunchy sex, blunt violence, & disturbing imagery pepper the proceedings -- this is why the film isn't boring (at least, for a long time). What this film has going against it is that it is consistently off-putting (you either go along for its wild, crazy ride, or you check-out early), and while the film is fascinating, it runs out of ideas/steam in the grim, unconventional last 30 minutes. The acting is stellar, with the actors giving restrained, deadpan performances. Colin Farrell subtly blew me away as the sad, desperate-for-conformity-yet-lovelorn David. Rachel Weisz is equally effective. Lea Seydoux is pretty scary/threatening as the militant leader. ALL the actors perform their roles well. 'The Lobster' is a gloriously absurd, wicked satire of our couple-obsessed society (superficial contemporary courtships, like-for-like dating websites, snap judgments of people online, etc.). It's an odd duck, but I'm glad to have seen it.
SIDE NOTE: When an older couple exiting my theater ranted to a younger couple (yet to see this movie) about how horrible it was and to "get your refund now", I had to speak-up on behalf of the film. While I didn't love it, I told the foursome that "I loved it", just to show the older couple that yes, there CAN be a difference of opinion. I don't like when people press-upon their opinions of a film as "fact" and then try to persuade/dissuade others in their direction. Let the younger couple make-up their mind about seeing/not seeing/loving/loathing a movie. After the older couple revealed the end of the film in their rant (to which, the younger couple exasperatedly responded, "hey, thanks a lot"), I believe the young couple appreciated my input, while the older couple looked at me like I was a monster {haha}.
When his wife leaves him for another man, architect David (Colin Farrell) knows that society dictates that he must find another wife, pronto. To facilitate finding a potential mate, he checks-in to a spa-like hotel where he has only 45 days to find another compatible partner or face "transformation" into an animal of his choice. Most people want to be a dog (which is why there are so many of them, funny concept). But David chooses to become a lobster if all else fails. The hotel manager (Olivia Colman) sternly explains the regulated schedule required of him & other newbies – there's a man who lisps (John C. Reilly), another man has a limp (Ben Whishaw), a woman prone to nosebleeds (Jessica Barden), & one who is mean/heartless (Angeliki Papoulia). The man with a lisp must fall for someone with a lisp, etc.. While a 'maid' facilitates sexual arousal for these people {another enticingly odd concept}, masturbation is completely forbidden.
A surprise to no one, the 'guests' grow increasingly desperate under the pressure to find a must-be-compatible companion within 45 days. When a match IS made, there is a party & 'honeymoon', of sorts (in a boat on a lake). If couples start to argue, children are assigned to them. "It usually helps", declares the manager. With his lobster re-incarnation looming, David feigns being mean so as to pair-up with the heartless woman. But disaster strikes when David can't deal with one particularly morbid 'mean' act, and so, he flees into the forest, joining 'The Loners', a resistance group led by a militant leader (Lea Seydoux). She enforces her own set of nightmarish rules, forbidding any flirting or relationships whatsoever (the opposite of society's norm). But then ... David meets his real soul mate in a short-sighted woman (Rachel Weisz). Love is in the air, but they're only able to hide their feelings for each other from the militant leader for so long. Craziness ensues.
With his Dogtooth and now this film, Yorgos Lanthimos is proving to be quite the provocative filmmaker. This bizarre-but-fascinating dystopian dramedy provides a nightmare for grown-ups to contemplate ... could YOU imagine living in this society where you're pressured to find your soul mate or face transformation into an animal? It's crazy weird, but thought-provoking to say the least. Lanthimos' auteur-eye is distinctly cold. The camerawork here is beautiful, yet bleak. The pace of the film is slow, but not uninteresting. The characters all speak in clipped, robotic tones; trying to stifle as much emotion as possible. Sounds fun, right!? Haha.
Sudden bursts of pitch black humor, uproarious behaviors, raunchy sex, blunt violence, & disturbing imagery pepper the proceedings -- this is why the film isn't boring (at least, for a long time). What this film has going against it is that it is consistently off-putting (you either go along for its wild, crazy ride, or you check-out early), and while the film is fascinating, it runs out of ideas/steam in the grim, unconventional last 30 minutes. The acting is stellar, with the actors giving restrained, deadpan performances. Colin Farrell subtly blew me away as the sad, desperate-for-conformity-yet-lovelorn David. Rachel Weisz is equally effective. Lea Seydoux is pretty scary/threatening as the militant leader. ALL the actors perform their roles well. 'The Lobster' is a gloriously absurd, wicked satire of our couple-obsessed society (superficial contemporary courtships, like-for-like dating websites, snap judgments of people online, etc.). It's an odd duck, but I'm glad to have seen it.
SIDE NOTE: When an older couple exiting my theater ranted to a younger couple (yet to see this movie) about how horrible it was and to "get your refund now", I had to speak-up on behalf of the film. While I didn't love it, I told the foursome that "I loved it", just to show the older couple that yes, there CAN be a difference of opinion. I don't like when people press-upon their opinions of a film as "fact" and then try to persuade/dissuade others in their direction. Let the younger couple make-up their mind about seeing/not seeing/loving/loathing a movie. After the older couple revealed the end of the film in their rant (to which, the younger couple exasperatedly responded, "hey, thanks a lot"), I believe the young couple appreciated my input, while the older couple looked at me like I was a monster {haha}.