The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015): Ireland | UK | Greece | France | Netherlands

Reviewed by Claire Bachmann. Viewed at the AFI Fest 2015.

This is a film directed by Yorgos Lamthimos who is well know for his other movie “Dogtooth”, produced by Film 4, Eurimages, British Film Institute, CNC, Institut Frances, Irish Film Board, Netherlands Film Fund, Canal, and Cine. This movie has a knock out as of Colin Farrel, Rachel Weisz, Lea Seydaux, Ben Whishaw, Olivia Coleman, John C. Reilly, and Jessica Bardon. “The Lobster” was entered into many film festivals internationally and winning the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival, and received high ratings from IMDB, Meteoritic, and Rotten Tomatoes.

This is a fictional story about some time in the future where single people, if unable to find a suitable “life partner” within 45 days, are then forced to be turned into an animal of their choosing. The story follows a middle aged man named David (Colin Farrell), whose wife of 12 years has passed away, leaving him to find another person to couple with or face being turned into an animal, like his brother who is now a dog that lives with David. This movie features extremely dry sarcasm while making various statements on the “dangers” of being single longer than the 45 days. The cinematography in this movie is very good, lots of clean shots with slow motion scenes during the action packed scenes to added a comic effect to the severity of the situation. A fantastic performance by Colin Farrell who plays an unexpected role, making him nearly unrecognizable from some of his other distinguishing roles that he has played in the past.

I would highly recommend people see this movie, if not just to see Colin Farrell play a highly unlikely character, but also because of the highly unlikeliness of such a future for mankind and yet the hysterical  dialogue between the characters.