Dan Abel’s review published on Letterboxd:
"Don't cry. Crying will make your eyes hurt more."
David is an average man living in a dystopian future. A world where being single is frowned upon and hence limited by time. Single individuals are sent to hotel facilities where they have forty-five days to find a partner or be turned into an animal of their choice. Most pick options like cats and dogs so many other common animals are left on the brink of extinction. David was left by his wife so he is brought to the hotel with his brother he chose to become a dog when he failed to find a mate. David chooses a lobster because he loves the longevity of it's life and it's infinite fertility. An excellent choice in a world where abnormal choices like lobsters need a population boom. Those who still reside within the forty-five day limit are tasked with hunting down escaping singles with tranquilizer rifles and returning them to the hotel to be changed forever. In exchange their time is extended for each body they return.
It's been FARRRR TOO LONGGGG since I have dived into some A24 stuff. The last collaboration I've seen between A24, director Yorgos Lanthimos, and Colin Farrell was the excellent The Killing of a Sacred Deer. So I popped this one in, undoubtedly expecting an absolute banger and in the first minute a crazy woman steps out of a car and shoots a donkey three times. Seems like overkill, and it's never really explained, but it got my attention. Unfortunately the rest didn't live up to the hype.
The Lobster is sick and brutal, mostly from a psychological aspect but it also dabbles in physical horror. Anytime John C. Reilly is involved whether it's his comedy roots or the serious roles he excels in, count me in! A cold female narrator tells the story as our protagonist travels the road to both extremes from forced love to forced individualism. As more of a simple layman of a film watcher, I find this film to be too pretentious and artsy fartsy. This is the kind of film that has enough underlying context to gag a maggot, and that takes a bit of the entertainment out of it for me.
This is basically a dystopian society in which introverts are weeded out and changed to something inhuman. A society void of emotion that runs purely on lies, deceit, and the cold hard instinct of survival. If this were the real world I think I'd fail and be turned into a wolf. At least that was my initial thought. On the other hand, in this world you are also left to see past people's superficial flaws if you want to stay human, so in that regard maybe it's survival of the fittest, or of those with the lowest standards? Those who can see past petty flaws and have the gumption to act on an impulse and put themselves out there to ensure their own existence as a human being. Either way, the underlying context that permeates this plot is fucked in ways both good and bad.
The Lobster is supposed to be a dark comedy of sorts but I failed to find the humor. That may have a lot to do with my oblivious nature toward the artsy farty stuff, but who knows? It's a good one time watch, and a possible entry onto the sleep rotation list, but otherwise I am definitely not rushing to re-watch it with full attention ever again.
