The Lobster review.
written by Souranath Banerjee
It’s dangerous when you are entertained by such an extremely twisted and dark comedy, sick and revengeful at times – but again you cannot help but chuckle and giggle helplessly through out the film!
My Ratings: 4.4/5.
Many filmmakers, over the years have attempted to make futuristic dystopian films (most of them have been zippy action based adventures), but with The Lobster, the Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (of Dogtooth fame) has achieved something unique in that genre.
And that too with mostly fine-tuning the exclusive comic timings in some of the most absurdly realistic situations!
The basic premise of the film is simple yet weird – imagine a dystopian world where all the single people are sent to this hotel where within a limited number of days they are expected to choose their partner, or else they’ll be transformed into an animal of their choice.
And when David (Colin Farrell), arrives at this peculiar hotel, he declares that his choice of animal (if he fails to find a partner) would be The Lobster!
David soon befriends with a few other guests John C. Reilly (the Lisping man) and Ben Whishaw (the Limping man), and he also desperately tries to fix a match with an emotionally disturbed woman Angeliki Papoulia (the Heartless Woman).
But then, David meets Léa Seydoux (the Loner Leader) and Rachel Weisz (the short sighted woman) and his life changes forever.
Brilliant acting by each and every one, specially by Colin Farrell, probably his career best performance.
But the best thing about the film is it’s brilliant concept and the powerful script (written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou)
Real human characters/emotions put in a surreal situation, an ideal way to question our human behaviors in context with the current social and political scenario. For example, how any society tends to fight against those who doesn’t fit-in or doesn’t respect the rules in general, and then these so-called misfits and rule breakers form their own society where they make their own rules and then again, a few have a problem to fit in there!
Fortunately The Lobster was part of JIO MAMI 17th Mumbai Film Festival and it was among my list of films that shouldn’t be missed.
A brilliant black comedy, a take on ‘love’ and ‘life’ in the most quirky and entertaining way possible. The film has already won the ‘Jury Prize’ at the Cannes Film Festival and is now nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or.
Best of luck!
Poster courtesy: www.impawards.com.