The Lobster (2015)

Academy Awards, USA 2017

Nominee Oscar

Best Original Screenplay Yorgos Lanthimos Efthymis Filippou

A24
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
My rating: BOMB
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, A24/Lionsgate)

In the near future, Colin Farrell is a recently divorced man carted off to a hotel with society's other single people. They are given 45 days to find a mate or face being transformed into an animal (he chooses a lobster). They can hunt "loners" (escaped hotel guests) with a tranquilizer gun in the neighboring woods to earn extra days. They have to abide by strict rules, mostly sexual, or face severe punishments. Potential pairs must have something in common, and once found have a month to see if they are compatible. Farrell fakes heartlessness in order to be paired with another woman, but his true self is revealed and he is forced to escape to the woods and join the loners. They also live by strict rules, mostly opposite of those in the hotel. He falls in love with another loner (against the rules), and their clandestine relationship leads to more absurdities. The first scene in this film is the shooting of a donkey, and it just gets worse from there. A dog is beaten to death. Dead rabbits are shown. If you can somehow stomach all of that, there is the ridiculous plot. Dialogue is strictly monotone. Emotions are non-existent. I suppose it's supposed to be funny and witty. I found it to be the one of the worst movies I've seen in years.