★★★★ Watched 11 Aug 2019
You’re an odd little duck, you lobster. Yorgos Lanthimos deliveries another weird story that you are not sure if you love it or hate it. It’s probably one or the other.
The Lobster won Best Original Screenplay for Lanthimos about a alternate world where there are no single people. David (Colin Farrell) becomes single when his wife leaves him for another man. He is taken away to a hotel where he has 45 days to find himself a partner or he will be turned into an animal of his choice. The first act of the film is his time in the hotel with many odd characters. The second act is where David escapes the hotel and joins some loners in the woods. These characters are all about not having relationships. But the loners are hunted by the guests of the hotel.
In between the lifeless characters and the absurdity of what the characters go through, you have a dark comedy that is friggin’ hysterical for the first part of the film. The second act tends to go downhill a bit. If the story would have 100% circled around this hotel, it would have been a brilliant film. The second act connection with new characters is a little bit out there and confusing. Things don’t make a lot of sense until two days later and you say, okay I get it.
Lanthimos is not one for directing a normal straight up film. Even his film The Favourite, that won best picture and best director, contains characters that are a bit unhinged. This is what he does and he does it in a way that makes you question what you just watched. The Lobster, I liked but it is a film where you will either love it or hate it.
