Title – The Lobster (2015)

Director – Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth)

Cast – Colin Farrell, John C. Reilly, Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw, Olivia Colman, Léa Seydoux, Michael Smiley, Angeliki Papoulia

Plot – In the near future humans are required to partner up or be turned into animals if they fail to do so. David (Farrell) finds himself at a matchmaking hotel and quickly running out of time to partner up but could a wood dwelling women (Weisz) offer him a chance of salvation?

“Lobsters live for over one hundred years, are blue-blooded like aristocrats, and stay fertile all their lives. I also like the sea very much”

Review by Eddie on 10/05/2016

If you’re chasing your movie meal to be served up well and truly above medium strange with an added dollop of weird sauce and odd and odder sides, then my goodness is Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster the feast you’ve been seeking.

One of the most downright bizarre yet somehow never less than engaging experiences of recent times, The Lobster takes the viewer into a darkly comically alternative existence where humans are to be matched with partners in hotel matchmaking or face the prospect of being turned into an animal of their choice and if you think that synopsis sounds cuckoo wait until you witness the final product.

Playing it deadpan and never once letting up on its game of oddities, The Lobster sees a game and capable cast play out numerously amusing scenarios from hunting other humans in the woods with tranquiliser guns, partaking in creepy hotel dances or having hands be placed in toasters, Lanthimos isn’t afraid to put his named cast through the wringer and many actors are the best they’ve been in years.

The comedic talents of actors like Colin Farrell and John C. Reilly (here sporting a lisp) are well known and the two gentleman acquit themselves well with equally thankless roles but Lanthimos also finds gold out of performers like Ben Whishaw, Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman in roles that require them to remain straight faced even though what they’re getting up to is anything but “normal”. Especially there are particular joys and amusements to be found early on here as we’re introduced to each of these abnormal characters and as we get thrown into this bizarre world you can’t help but laugh no matter how dark things are actually getting and how little you actually understand about what on earth is going on.

For fans of Charlie Kaufman and even select Wes Anderson films, The Lobster will likely become a new favourite and will quite possibly be a beloved cult classic as the years draw on from its discoveries on home video formats and while Lanthimos’s film loses some steam from a midway point shift in focus, The Lobster is about as original and often hilarious a film as you’re likely to get in today’s movie climate.

3 ½ misused toasters out of 5