The Lobster

The Lobster is an elegant and witty response to the sarcastic speeches about the decline and commercialization of world cinema. The alternative still lives, and even those who do not appreciate comic book spectacles filled with special effects can enjoy it. The film presents the viewer with an original dark grotesque world, which is probably the screenwriter's response to today's crisis of the family and the steep rise in the popularity of the single lifestyle. In the dystopian film world, the system forces individuals to enter into partnerships in an uncompromising way. Life as a couple is actually the only allowed manner of existence. Anything else leads either to the outcasts being sent into the deep forests, who are subjected to harassment, or to a transformation into another animal species. However bizarre in its own way, it surprisingly works well on the screen. It is funny, and moreover, it can be said that the troubles of the film characters have a real basis in human psychology and in their relationships. Additionally, the cast is truly star-studded and atypical for this kind of film production. Colin Farrell did a much better job with his burned-out depressive character, much more so than the aloof Rachel Weisz. Léa Seydoux created the character of an uncompromising guerrilla commander, who is willing to do the same, if not even worse, in the fight against the system. The festival-style manner of not following the mainstream and reinforcing the belief of its audience that they are seeing something artistically exclusive led to the fact that the film is not as audience-friendly as it could have been. I wouldn't dare to recommend The Lobster to a regular moviegoer who wants to relax and clear their mind of everyday troubles. But for fans of arthouse cinema, it is a good choice. Overall impression: 75%. (19/07/2016)

Except for a few festival crap shows, I never left the cinema before the closing credits. Until The Lobster. It was clear after twenty minutes that I wasn't on the same wavelength as the film, but I hung on for another half hour. That's all I could do. Overwrought drivel full of awkwardly declaiming actors, dysfunctional humour and romance, and a tragic attempt to pretend it is something more. I give that one star to the actors, most of whom I like quite a bit and felt sorry for. But Yorgos Lanthimos goes on the blacklist. And I’m buying a beer to whomever makes sure Johnnie Burn never composes music again. (05/06/2016)

Yorgos Lanthimos is definitely an interesting filmmaker. Before The Lobster, I'd only seen Dogtooth, but that's also one of those that stick in your memory. The Lobster is another one of them. There are characters, scenes, and overall plot direction that you simply won't find anywhere else. I don't think the actors even knew what they were filming and why. (29/01/2016)

Orwell style black-humorous romantic satire ... Bizarre? Definitely. Unique? There´s no doubt about it. Refined? Not even close. The first hotel half is incomparably better the second forest part, which is ruined mainly by the non-existent chemistry between the central couple that is "despite everything" very much in love and by the fact that it all fades away (and no, I do not mean the final scene). And now something completely different. (13/03/2016)

An outside the box romantic movie set in a weird world with weird rules. An amazingly inventive screenplay. Farrell proves again that he is an acting chameleon, his minimalist creations dominating the picture. The tempo is purposefully slow, which doesn’t matter at the beginning, but the sleep syndrome kicks in half way through and doesn’t leave you till the eye operation. A good taste of the bizarre which might benefit from a more rapid tempo and a few explanations. (18/04/2017)