The Lobster

Started by wilder, September 03, 2015, 02:14:50 PM

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wilder



In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring Léa Seydoux, Rachel Weisz, Ben Wishaw, John C. Reilly, and Colin Farrell
Release Date - May 13, 2016



wilder


wilder

The main thing is just that it's a comedy, and I guess you'll find it funny or you won't. I loved it. To complain about the simplicity of the drama doesn't make sense to me because the relationship dynamics are kept simple at least partly because the actual premise is slightly complicated, and at its core The Lobster is essentially a fable - a sort of fucked up fable about the basics of relationship dynamics with bizarre sexual jokes and a very unique brand of humor. People here don't emote normally, they're not quite as stoic as Dogtooth, but you can almost imagine that....if a fable is meant to impart a lesson, this lesson in The Lobster is made for and by aliens observing the human race, asking "What do human relationships look like? Who is suitable for each other? Why don't they work?" These questions are answered in a deliberately reductive way, and what the above review regards as trite platitudes are humorous precisely because they are. The movie isn't trying to pass one over on you and tell you the observations are deep. It's funny because it's not deep (but at the same time it is).

The rules of The Lobster's world aren't difficult to follow, but they're voluminous enough that you have to pay some attention in the setup and you're constantly gleaning little details about how this world works as the story evolves. Part of the pleasure of the movie is buying into its fantastical rules, which you learn a little more of from time to time, and the comedy that results from your expectations built into them. That's really the movie. If the relationships were too subtle you'd get lost, and there are a fair number of characters to follow, too. Again, fable, not Mike Leigh movie. Bad fucking examples but Rapunzel's relationship dynamics don't have a ton of nuance and Hansel and Gretel aren't psychological puzzle boxes, either. The tone of those stories doesn't make for that.

The 90s/00's mention is interesting because it did remind me of that era, but in a really, really good way, a way I miss and was ecstatic to see again, and not at all in the mode that that person described. I think it's because Lanthimos' world was so hermetically sealed and I believed in it, was able to fully suspend disbelief for the story. A friend of mine thinks narrative movies aren't as popular now in comparison to documentaries and reality shows because they're just harder to buy into in our current reality. I wish I could explain this better but I agree with it, and The Lobster took me back to a time when investing in someone else's imaginary creation wasn't as hard to do.

As far as being aesthetically hackneyed — that I just-don't-get. It takes place at a countryside getaway, at a sort of hotel, it looks like a countryside getaway and a sort of hotel. I honestly don't know what he's talking about here. Is it too cute for him? The idea that people turn into animals? Is that making him hate normal production design?

The movie is incredibly well shot, and it's not just that it has a deliberate, consistent style, but there's tons of variance in the individual compositions.

QuoteAnd the jokes... that line about having kids was so cringe-makingly on-the-nose I can't believe anyone would cite it positively

"I can't believe anyone would find it funny." / "I can't believe anyone would cite it positively." <— which person is going to be more likely to laugh?


Parting note, if you find this funny you might like it:

Quote
"Want to hear a poem I wrote?
I love you, you love me...
going down the sugar tree.
We'll go down the sugar tree...
and see lots of bees...
playing, playing.
But the bees won't sting...
because you love me.
That's it."

"That's fucking great man."

Garam

Enthusiasm reinstated! Cheers.



I might quote-post your response to see what he has to say for himself. Lousy son of a bitch.

The reason i want to like it so much is that it sounds like a feature length version of one of Chris Morris's (late 90s) which I've always wanted to see. Dogtooth was one of the films that came the closest to that dream. Even Chris Morris's own 'Four Lions' (which I do love, but still...) doesn't capture that feeling.

Garam

I saw it. I really liked it. It managed to be both incredibly haunting and very silly, sometimes at the same time.


The failed suicide attempt was blood-curdling and agonising. Found that ongoing scream very disturbing but then they undercut the horror of the whole scenario with an e.e.cummings style line like "there was blood and biscuits everywhere."

Really curious movie. It's like if Bunuel made a Monty Python film. I like how they managed to make a shabby Fawlty Towers style hotel have the gravitas and fear of the Overlook.

I thought Olivia Coleman was scene-stealing whenever she appeared. She's perfect for that type of shallow-effect Nurse Ratched bitch matron type character.

modage

Not to add much but I really liked it too (and I hated Dogtooth).
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Just Withnail

The best cinematic experience I've had in a long time. Extremely funny and heartbreaking, constantly oscillating between cynicism and sentimentality.

SPOILERS

That moment when David and Short Sighted Woman are playing a couple, for Loner Leader's parents, and David allows himself to display his growing affection for Short Sighted Woman semi-publicly, by listing all the places he'd like to travel with her, and you see how his face and body tingles with butterflies while he at the same time has to hold back, but he can't quite.

Quote from: Garam on November 19, 2015, 10:54:26 AM
The failed suicide attempt was blood-curdling and agonising. Found that ongoing scream very disturbing but then they undercut the horror of the whole scenario with an e.e.cummings style line like "there was blood and biscuits everywhere."

This was one of the most horrific scenes for me as well. The line made me laugh, but a laugh that was quickly swallowed up by the screams again, and the fact that the scenario is there to show us a certain type of masculine approach to women, a pretense towards being unaffected, being hard, made it all the more harrowing.

Jeremy Blackman

Just saw this. It's utterly amazing. If the really weird parts of Dogtooth pushed the right buttons for you, this will not disappoint, because the movie is basically 90% that. I think it reaches a critical mass such that you're forced to accept it or reject it entirely.

It was a complete joy to see familiar actors manifesting Yorgos Lanthimos's demented version of human interaction. That makes everything all the more disorienting.

Very much reminded me of Dogville. It's a similar kind of heightened reality fable with severe moral implications.

The movie is deeply horrifying and consistently funny, almost in equal parts, and I can't think of any other movie that's done that for me. I laughed out loud and physically cringed, frequently in the space of one scene. Anyone who wants to achieve that reaction in any medium should study this film.

I yield the balance of my time to Wilder's review, which is dead on.

samsong

love me some absurdism, and this movie hit me right in the sweet spot.  concept and execution are, at worst, enviable.  seriously great stuff, loved every minute of it and fucking hell am i in love with rachel weisz. 

but

between this and dogtooh, it seems as though he's got an unfortunate penchant for stock arthouse, open-ended, "i want to start a dialogue" endings that threaten to deflate otherwise provocative, great works. 

this was a great way to shake off the stench of the force awakens.


Jeremy Blackman

Also, FYI, there is a substantial scene where French is spoken. If you're watching this digitally, you'll need subtitles for it.

http://subscene.com/subtitles/the-lobster/english/1244381

http://pastebin.com/aLT0sXGz

wilder

US release delayed....


A24 Picks Up 'The Lobster' From The Struggling Alchemy

via The Playlist

As we recently discussed, there are changing times ahead in the indie film landscape with Netflix and Amazonmuscling onto the scene, but the problems facing Alchemy have more to do with a string of bad fortune. Of all the films they released since last April — which include "Welcome To Me" starring Kristen Wiig, "Strangerland" starring Nicole Kidman, "The Runner" starring Nicolas Cage, and Gaspar Noé's 3D sextacular "Love" — only one movie crossed $1 million domestic, and that was the documentary "Meet The Patels." And you can't blame streaming services for that, and it appears Alchemy is facing some trouble.

THR reports that A24 has snatched up the domestic rights to Yorgos Lanthimos' "The Lobster," which was originally slated to open on March 11th via Alchemy. The distributor had picked up the movie at Cannes last year, a pretty major get, and part of the Alchemy's string of acquisitions over the past little which have includedNanni Moretti's "Mia Madre," James Franco's "Zeroville," and Rob Zombie's "31." But perhaps tellingly, Alchemy didn't make a single buy at Sundance this year.

Whether this is a temporary moment that Alchemy is going to use to get back on track, or a sign that they may be folding, we'll just have to wait and see. As for "The Lobster," no word yet on a release date, but I'd wager A24, who are a savvy studio when it comes to marketing, will create a new campaign for the picture.

Lottery

Still playing catch up but this is my favourite from last year. I liked this considerably more than Alps and Dogtooth.

wilder

It's being released theatrically in the US on Friday

wilder

John C. Reilly has a brief conversation about The Lobster in the opening 15 minutes of WTF today

wilder