- Welcome to THE FRINGE - The Exciting New Cinematic Universe Coming from the Makers of PROSPECT
- Welcome to THE FRINGE - The Exciting New Cinematic Universe Coming from the Makers of PROSPECT
- Welcome to THE FRINGE - The Exciting New Cinematic Universe Coming from the Makers of PROSPECT
- Welcome to THE FRINGE - The Exciting New Cinematic Universe Coming from the Makers of PROSPECT
- A Man is Trapped in a Porta-Potty in HOLY SHIT! Trailer
- Teaser Trailer for PREY, Latest Predator Movie
- Teaser Trailer for Netflix's RESIDENT EVIL Series
- A tale of disappearance and horror in YELLOWBRICKROAD
- A tale of disappearance and horror in YELLOWBRICKROAD
- New EVENT HORIZON 4K Steelbook Available Now
- Re: Occupation, Australian Sci Fi movie
- Slice of Life, Blade Runner inspired short
- Is Snowpeircer a sequel to Willy Wonka?
- Re: Yesterday
- Re: Yesterday
- Yesterday
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- Re: White Night (or where do I get my 30 + from now?)
- First Poster for Anticipated Apocalyptic Thriller VESPER
- Teaser Trailer for Netflix's RESIDENT EVIL Series
- Here's What's On Blu-ray and 4K This Week! [May 10, 2022]
- THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN Series Blends Post-Apocalypse with Epic Fantasy
- Turbo Kid Directors Apating THE ZOMBIES THAT ATE THE WORLD Comic Series
- Proto-Cyberpunk & Post-Apocalypse Meet in MONDOCANE [Trailer]
- Here's the WYRMWOOD: APOCALYPSE Trailer!
- Watch Richard Stanley's Rare Super 8 Version of Hardware called
- Epic Destruction in RESTART THE EARTH Trailer
- Carriers Directors David Pastor and Àlex Pastor Are Filming a BIRD BOX Spin-Off
- Richard Stanley's HARDWARE Continues as a Comic!
- VIFF 2021: THE IN-LAWS, MIRACLE, SALOUM, SECRETS FROM PUTUMAYO [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2021: SILENT NIGHT Review
- VIFF 2021: Documentary Preview [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2021: THE PINK CLOUD, THE HOLE IN THE FENCE [Capsule Reviews]
- TIFF 2021: JAGGED Review
- TIFF 2021: SUNDOWN Review
- VIFF 2021: Animation Preview [Capsule Reviews]
- SAINT-NARCISSE is Bruce LaBruce at His Most Accomplished [Review]
- TIFF 2021: DASHCAM Review
- TIFF 2021: THE DAUGHTER Review
- New Red Band Trailer Gives First Look at HEAVY METAL SteelBook Edition 4K Blu-ray
- Trailer for Sci-Fi Prison Thriller CORRECTIVE MEASURES
- This Week on Blu-ray and DVD! [April 19, 2022]
- Disturbing Teaser for David Cronenberg's CRIMES OF THE FUTURE
- CHILDREN OF SIN Spooks up Amazon April 22
- Proto-Cyberpunk & Post-Apocalypse Meet in MONDOCANE [Trailer]
- This Week on 4K, Blu-ray and DVD! [April 12, 2022]
- Paul Schrader Penned THERE ARE NO SAINTS Trailer
- Full STRANGER THINGS Season 4 Trailer
- 3-Disc TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD Coming from Synapse Films
- This Week on Blu-ray & DVD [April 5, 2022]
- DOG SOLDIERS Collector's Edition 4K Blu-ray on the Way from Scream Factory
- Famous First Films: Robert Eggers' HANSEL AND GRETEL
- ‘Squid Game’ Director's Next is KLLING OLD PEOPLE CLUB
- Choose or Die: Netflix Movie Features a Killer Text Adventure Game
- New this week on Blu-ray and DVD! [March 29, 2022]
- Trailer for Horror Maestro Gustavo Hernandez's VIRUS:32
- V/H/S/94 Blu-ray Details Unearthed from RLJ
- Trailer for Atmospheric SHEPHERD
- Here's the WYRMWOOD: APOCALYPSE Trailer!
Jack In
Latest Comments
Latest Forum Posts
PA News
Latest Reviews
Older News
Crew
Marina Antunes
Editor in Chief
Vancouver, British Columbia
Christopher Webster
Managing Editor
Edmonton, Alberta
DN aka quietearth
Founder / Asst. Managing Editor
Denver, Colorado
Simon Read
UK Correspondent
Edinburgh, Scotland
Rick McGrath
Toronto Correspondent
Toronto, Ontario
Manuel de Layet
France Correspondent
Paris, France
rochefort
Austin Correspondent
Austin, Texas
Daniel Olmos
Corrispondente in Italia
Italy
Griffith Maloney aka Griffith Maloney
New York Correspondent
New York, NY
Stephanie O
Floating Correspondent
Quiet Earth Bunker
Jason Widgington
Montreal Correspondent
Montreal, Quebec
Carlos Prime
Austin Correspondent
Austin, TX
Latest news








"A love story set in the near future where single people, according to the rules of The City, are arrested and transferred to The Hotel. There they are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days. If they fail, they are transformed into an animal of their choosing and released into The Woods. A desperate Man escapes from The Hotel to The Woods where The Loners live and falls in love, although it is against their rules."
Funny how, just by reading this synopsis for The Lobster, you know it's a Yorgos Lanthimos movie. The blandly descriptive names are as much his trademark as his acute eye for the mind numbing inanity of our social constructs.
This time the subject of analysis is the position of hormone-enhanced interpersonal-relations as a status defining symbol.
Partnership status, and the possible existence of offspring, as a meaningful criteria for a job position, is far less frequent today than it was in the sixties but it does still does exist. The proposition made by Lanthimos and Filippou extends this all-too-real absurdity into the tenets of a dystopian society of a "two by two my human zoo" persuasion.
The Hotel, ruled by the always endearing Olivia Coleman, is more of a North Korean resort for the reeducation of cultural dissidents than anything else. The rules are many, ruthlessly enforced, and most of the daily activities revolve around reprogramming people into needing a partner. Not just any partner, a matching one. The principles of that society are basically Tinder elevated to religion. "It's a match! you're both sociopaths!". The solution to smooth out the inevitable frictions arising when people are paired according to arbitrary similarities is to assign them children. The penalty for a fake match is sprouting feathers or antlers.
Fleeing that rather uninspiring fate David, the hero and only named character, ends up in the surrounding woods with the "rebellion." The Loners firmly believe in self reliance and instead of fearing loneliness, they abhor any kind of communication. Good and Evil being as always the two faces of the same ugly monster, their rules are as numerous and similarly enforced by their leader.
Love will nevertheless happen to complicate things further...
The result is both hilarious and deeply sad. You'll end up cackling like a demented spinster after a bottle of Sherry. There are only a pair a flies in the ointment - I did find Colin Farell's performance a bit underwhelming in comparison with the rest of the cast (Seydoux in particular manages to be both chilling and pathetic.) Nothing to deter viewing mind you.
The other problem, if you can call it that, is with the structural integrity if the building:
The whole point of any kind of absurdist work is mainly in the surprise, the inherent sub-logic holding the setting in place should be a continual discovery and The Lobster doesn't quite get there. While the topic is new the articulation of events, the way everything unfolds until the very last moment, is so consistent with the past works of the director as to spoil a bit of the pleasure. That is my only gripe with this movie.
Recommended Release: Dogtooth
You might also like






