Movie Review: 'The Lobster'
By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio 1060
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --No, despite the title, it's not a horror flick about a monstrous crustacean.
Actually, it's much stranger than that.
Like most critics, I occasionally find myself expressing that a movie is unlike anything the audience has seen before.
Yet I have a feeling that that's rarely if ever actually true.
Well, this time I mean it.
The Lobster comes about as close to defying generic categorization as a movie can.
It's sort of science fiction, sort of black comedy, sort of social satire, sort of perverse romance, sort of dark allegory, sort of theater of the absurd. It's sort of a lot of things.
Of course, being different isn't the same as being better and The Lobster is no world beater.
But it's fascinating in concept and doesn't come close to reminding us of any other movie.
The premise: we're in a dystopian near future.
Our schlubby, bespectacled protagonist, David, an everyman played – with his charisma tucked purposefully in his back pocket – by Colin Farrell is in the process of being dumped by his wife.
That means David is now single. And bewildered.
The laws of the city dictate that unattached David be taken to a remote hotel, where he has 45 days to find a romantic partner to pair off with.
If he misses that deadline, he will be transformed into an animal of his choosing which he will determine in advance and then sent be sent off.
David's brother, for example, is already a border collie.
David's choice? A lobster. Why? Because lobsters live to be close to 100, because they reside in the sea, and because they remain fertile.
So there.
During his month-and-a-half stay, he befriends a guy with a lisp, played by John C. Reilly, and a guy with a limp, played by Ben Whishaw. They're in the same boat as David, each desperately seeking someone of the opposite sex with something – anything -- in common with him.
David does meet somebody and their union turns out to be a disaster. So he flees into the woods, where he meets a group of loners, led by Lea Seydoux, whom hotel guests are rewarded for shooting with tranquilizer guns.
The loners are rebelling against the system in place, but they are no less extreme than the folks they oppose, prohibiting love and partnership.
There David meets a similarly short-sighted woman, played by Rachel Weisz, who happens to be the film's narrator and would appear to be a strong soul-mate candidate and, despite the restrictions, they pair off.
But here in the woods, theirs is a forbidden romance.
In his first English-language film, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (My Best Friend, Dogtooth, Alps), who co-wrote the script with Efthymis Filippou, molds his melancholy metaphor by having his cast deliver their dialogue robotically, with deadpan earnestness and simultaneous screwball awkwardness.
He seems to be exploring the oppressive myths of conventional courtship, modern romance, and monogamous unions as a source of comfort and fulfillment.
His film is nothing if not thought-provoking, even if it does slow down in the late going, when it could stand to speed up.
Flaws and all, however, the film stays with you long after your meal is finished.
So we'll pair off with 2-1/2 stars out of 4. Why not try something different and order The Lobster?
