Not a fan. Thought it had a bit of a Wes Anderson-y quality to it, that same sort of odd, cold, detached tone, actors who seem like they’re reading their lines for the first time, and a plot that feels like it’s on the verge of going somewhere but never quite does, but without the cutesiness of an actual Wes Anderson film.
I agree wholeheartedly. It started out okay, but began to go off the rails in the second act; I really enjoyed the movie for the first 40, 45 minutes or so, and then I started getting a bit tired of it.
I’ve just finished watching The Lobster. Throughout, I kept thinking of a film called The Committee. Both feature a sort of faceless bureaucracy that exists to deal with problems that seem fairly small by comparison. It is this overly burdensome, disproportionate nonsense that satirizes modern society. But, it becomes a bit tedious to watch.
So, I started thinking of how to pluck the strings of the society. What happens when you violate the rules? I think a fun seeking sociopath could have a delightful romp in a hotel like the one in The Lobster.
It was sad to see the dog’s death. But, that was his purpose in the film. You didn’t see other people bringing animals along. “Oh, this parrot? My mother. Isn’t she colorful?”
Ultimately, it was all so oppressive that I started hoping that the film would put itself out of my misery by ending. I really started thinking that it might be more fulfilling to watch a committee try to decide which of three oranges was the roundest!
Has anyone seen other films directed by Lanthimos? Dogtooth is far more disturbing than The Lobster.
I’d recommend Dogtooth and Alps, as well as Babis Makridis’ L (2012) and Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Chevalier (2015) if you liked the Lobster. All four are also co-written by Efthymis Filippou.
If you couldn’t sit through The Lobster you don’t stand a chance with the Greek cinema happening right now. Especially avoid Lanthimos’ debut feature Kinetta which is pretty much the obverse of every Best Picture Oscar, ever. I loved it, so you can guess what I think of most of the nominees.
from Babis Makridis’ L (2012):
MAN
If I ever get my hands on the hunter who mistook you for a bear and killed you, I will kill him myself.
In cold blood.
He will not even see it coming.
He will not even have enough time to call to mind a last word before he dies.
He may think of one in haste, however he’ll only say a word that is common or pointless right before he dies.
Something like “warfare,” “house,” or “gun.”
Saw this a couple weeks ago and considered bumping the thread, so glad someone else did for me.
I loved it beginning to end. I laughed and was horrified throughout. The last part was painful because it clearly wasn’t going to be a “happily ever after” story, so I can see wanting it to end quickly. But for me the end was just as strong as the rest.
And so many good lines.
*“She jumped from the window from 180. There is blood and biscuits everywhere.”
*
“Just think, as an animal you’ll have a second chance to find a companion. But, even then, you must be careful; you need to choose a companion that is a similar type of animal to you. A wolf and a penguin could never live together, nor could a camel and a hippopotamus. That would be absurd.”
Add me to the list who found it a very interesting, good premise and a bit of the film. But, in the end, I would never recommend it to anyone. It just doesn’t go anywhere or do anything. Nice observations about societal norms/pressure/dating/sex/emotional connections, but … nothing beyond that. No character development, no learning, and just too much abject cruelity to be entertaining.
And while I don’t mind ambiguous endings sometimes, I disliked this one. Or more precisely, I shrugged my shoulder at this one. It was a “meh. That figures.” because by the end I didn’t much care. Had there been some kind of progress by the characters toward recognizing the cruelity and stupidity of the “rules” the movie sets up (and how can a characteristic that is so important as the defining characteristic change so easily?), that would have been something. But just a big “of course that’s how it ends”. Or more precisely, doesn’t end.
The rules might be stupid and cruel but in the world they set up every couple that ignored them failed. Nose bleed couple fought constantly, the loner plant in the hotel could not stand her dentist husband and the main character trying to date the heartless woman ended catastrophically. Even Rachel Weisz character who genuinely loved Colin Ferrell’s understood things were basically done when they no longer matched.