Is the director of ‘The Lobster’ caught in a trap?
'THE Lobster' was one of my favourite movies of 2016. I loved the inventive idea (single people check into a resort where they're turned into the animal of their choice if they don't find a soul mate), the humour, the sweetness at its core. I also recommended it to about four people total, because it is messed UP.
The work of Greek writerdirector Yorgos Lanthimos (‘The Lobster', ‘Dogtooth') is polarizing, and his latest, ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer', is no exception. The hallmarks of Lanthimos' style are very much present: There is an element of the magical that is never explained, the actors deliver most of their lines in an entirely flat voice, and an overwhelming sense of dread pervades even the most mundane scenes. You could argue for an eternity about whether Lanthimos' films are brilliant or terrible, but the one thing that's certain is they're not for everyone.
In ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer', a man (Colin Farrell, who, as in ‘The Lobster', really excels in weirdness) is terrorised by a teenage boy (Barry Keoghan, a study in slack-jawed terror). The less said about the plot the better, as the movie spins from revenge story to supernatural thriller to the most dementedly hilarious brother-and-sister fight in recent cinematic history. ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer' is like a visceral, disturbing fairy tale - only here, instead of biting a magic apple, one character chomps a chunk out of his own arm and then yells, “IT'S A METAPHOR”. Like I said, not for everyone. I don't know if Lanthimos is a great filmmaker. I don't think he's a terrible one, but I worry that his cinematic style will become a parody of itself. Of course, there are plenty of directors who have their signature touches; it's just that some of them use them as accessories to decorate and enhance their films (Alfred Hitchcock and his icy blondes, Amy Heckerling and her soundtracks), while some attempt to build a body of work defined by those touches (Zack Snyder with his grim lighting and DEAFENING SOUNDTRACKS, Robert Zemeckis and his “look what I can do!” long shots).
This is Lanthimos' second English-language film, and both feature relatively big stars at the centre - Rachel Weisz in ‘The Lobster', Nicole Kidman in ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer' and Farrell in both. The films strike many of the same chords, with scenes that had me peeking through my fingers while simultaneously laughing and muttering, “What the HELL?!”
I'm glad to see Lanthimos enjoying success, and I'm not saying he should abandon his realm of hilarious horror or “go mainstream.” I want him to embrace his style, but also to expand on it - to get even sharper at illuminating the absurdity of the world, at finding the moments of salvation in a time of despair, at making his audience gasplaugh. He has his style; the question is whether it will become his straightjacket. — Washington Post
In ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’, a man (Colin Farrell, who, as in ‘The Lobster’, really excels in weirdness) is terrorised by a teenage boy (Barry Keoghan, a study in slack-jawed terror). The less said about the plot the better, as the movie spins from revenge story to supernatural thriller to the most dementedly hilarious brother-and-sister fight in recent cinematic history.