The Lobster

The Lobster is a parade of depravity where single people are taken to a hotel and if they don't find the love of their life within 45 days, they are killed and turned into the animal of their choice, and they also often run into the woods to hide from the hotel staff who sometimes come hunting for them. That's the plot in a nutshell. Colin Farrell is okay, though it's certainly not the role of a lifetime, the plot is very bizarre, the first half hour plays out a compelling yet unforced interesting game and sets up the rules of the world, at times the film has a perverse futuristic undertone and at other times it’s funny to the point of parody. Unfortunately, it all feels so strange, underdeveloped and very uncertain, and while you can see that the idea and originality are there, the translation into ideal cinematic form is worse. It's probably no wonder, this concept is pretty crazy and personally I don't think it could have been done "better", but that's not because the film is very good, but simply because this thing can't even be made into a movie. A bold move by the director, for sure, but an unfinished affair that will puzzle viewers for a long time. It's hard to judge, but the final impression is rather negative – I get the feeling that the film wants to be taken more seriously than it actually is. (15/10/2021)

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. (12/03/2016)

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. (17/04/2017)

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%. (18/07/2016)

I don't know if master Lanthimos, who wrote one of the most bizarre scripts we've ever seen on the silver screen, was the only one on drugs, or if it was also the actors, led by the soft-spoken Farrell, with the most bizarre role of his career. But who really cares when this emotionally ungraspable yet romantic, visually austere and static yet compelling sci-fi flick somehow works and is pieced together with exactly the right carefully chosen essences to maintain its unique face of a confident auteur film from the first to the last second. If it had been given a slightly more sinister and less parodic look the fanatical totalitarian system, and if it could evoke more sympathy for the weird characters, it could have been one of the most interesting independent films of recent years, but as it is, The Lobster is just a passing speciality for festival and arthouse audiences... 75% (31/12/2015)