Review by John Delia
Working with excellent talent and intrusive camera work director Yorgos Lanthimos brings a bizarre film to the screen. The Lobster can be the perfect indie for a select audience of art film lovers that want to be drawn into a dark place for two hours while being entertained by the dreary storyline and the lifeless characters on the screen. For this group the movie’s a winner.
The Lobster is motion picture art at its most absurd, even more so than the morose and brooding Melancholia or Under the Skin. If you want a mind bending experience, then this little gem is for you. That said, I did applaud Under the Skin for its alien tale about a hooker who gathers humans for disturbing reasons.
Let’s get to the storyline: It’s the future and we find people have evolved into a society of couples that by law will not allow people to be single. Here we find newly divorced David (Colin Farrell) being admitted to the Hotel, a place where in 45 days he must find a true love to be his wife among the others who are single on the property. If they do not couple within that period of time they will be turned into their prechosen animal and set loose in the nearby woods.
Here David finds two likable single male friends limp (Ben Whishaw) and lisp (John C. Reilly) known in the film by their most identifiable physical feature. From this point on an adventure begins with the three trying to hook up with the likes of a shy nose bleeding woman (Jessica Barden) for limp, a short sighted female (Rachel Weisz) for David and heartless lady (Angeliki Papoulia) for lisp. When the date of their coupling time starts to get close, the three find themselves grasping for straws.
The three get along well plotting out who they will try to couple with while getting accustomed to their new surroundings. Director Yorgos Lanthimos who’s a master of creating thought-provoking characters turns his strange film into a melancholy look at humanity. Much like his Dogtooth where three teenagers are trapped in an isolated estate living a mundane life, the same bleak message seethes within The Lobster. He even draws his film out with long close ups of non-dialogue scenes with menacing sounds of a base violin being played in the background for a deep seated depression effect.
The actors are pawns of Director Lanthimos who places them on a stage and feeds them lines that bring out their emotions. Although they perform well, the cameras turn their characters into props for the absurd story that goes nowhere. The roles are cookie cutter with each living the same depressed life in a world gone mad. They’re lost souls that have no future and exist only within the film’s dystopian society. That said some people may like this kind of misery, but most will only come away with thoughts of their own problems rather than being distracted from them for 2 hours.
The Lobster has been rated R by the MPAA for sexual content including dialogue, and some violence.
FINAL ANALYSIS: To my readers: Unless you are an avid film buff that enjoys movies only as an art form, this one should be avoided. (C-)
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Jessica Barden, Angeliki Papoulia, Lea Seydoux and Ben Whishaw
Directed and Written By: Yorgos Lanthimos
Genre: Drama, Sci-fi, Romance, Comedy
MPAA Rating: R for sexual content including dialogue, and some violence
Running Time: 1 hr. 59 min.
Release Date: June 3, 2016
Distributed by: A24