The Lobster (2015)
6/10
There is blood and biscuits everywhere.....
3 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers
After his wife leaves him, David is sent to a hotel for single adults and urged to find a new significant other within 45 days or face a biological transformation into an animal of his choosing.

After a failed attempt at coupling, David meets a runaway from the hotel and the two begin a secret romance........

Well here's something that could be definitely described as 'different', and it's easily the weirdest film to be released last year.

But it always seems that when a film that is set in the future, and is slightly leftfield, the future always has to be dystopian. It's always glum, miserable, and just like this film, a little too depressing.

But then again, if this film was set in a utopia, it would be a kooky chick flick probably starring Ashton Kutcher and Anna Faris.

Heavily influenced by Gilliam and Brazil, The Lobster is a film of two halves. The first half is more or less set in the hotel, and it appears here that David has got himself a 'death' sentence. He's not a very likable person, not a people's person, and the friends he does make are as bizarre and as solemn as he.

And whether this is intentional or not, the majority of the characters in the film bar two, are horribly dislikable. And the two likable characters, Ashley Jensen's biscuit loving depiction of desperation, and Weisz's metaphorical exit from all the madness, both succumb to some sort of life changing incident.

And then the film offers a glimpse of relief, a glimpse of hope for David when he meets the loners, but their rules are more terrifying than that of the hotel. Here he meets Weisz, and it seems that all is not lost, but big brother is always watching, so not only is he trying to hide from the hunters of the hotel, but also from showing his true feelings.

Which is a big part of the acting here, not showing feelings, for which many have mistaken as bad acting. This couldn't be more farther from the truth. Farrell hasn't been this good in years, and the segment where he is pretending not to show any emotion when his brother is killed, is the single greatest piece of acting he has done.

Now to some, this probably doesn't mean much from the guy who starred in the remake of Total Recall, but these scenes are genuinely shocking, you can see he wants to react, but he's so desperate for his own freedom, he has to push himself to the limit.

Calling it a comedy is maybe pushing it a bit too far. There are funny moments for sure, but there are some horrific moments in this piece, and some of the characters traits are seriously sinister.

It's an oddity for sure, some will hate its narrative structure, and although I thought it was a wonderfully written, acted, and highly original piece of cinema, it left me feeling really depressed after.

Worth watching, but my gosh, you'll feel low after.
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