☆ ☆ ☆ ½
The
Lobster (2015) – Y. Lanthimos
High concept alternate reality tale told
in clinical deadpan by the director of Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos), another
weird one. Here, Colin Farrell
(unrecognisable with 20 extra kilos and a Ned Flanders moustache) is sent to a
mysterious hotel after his wife has left him.
Apparently, it is illegal to be single and this is his last chance to
find a partner among the other singles; if he fails, he will be turned into an
animal of his choice (he chooses the lobster).
So, yes, it is something of a comedy – particularly when hapless John C.
Reilly turns up – but it is very dry, very dry.
The real theme seems to be about the yin and yang of aloneness and
togetherness (there are pros and cons of both) and society’s expectations about
which is to be preferred. In this
society, they hunt down and kill loners (or turn them into undesirable
animals). Farrell’s character wants to
stay alive, stay human, and fall in love.
The film speaks to the challenges of doing so. It’s fresh, blunt about
many things, possibly perceptive (it is hard to tell) and definitely one-of-a-kind.
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