The Lobster

Colin Farrell's moustache. Blind Rachel Weisz. A bactrian camel. If this combination of things seems like a no-brainer to you, then you will love The Lobster. This film has the tagline of "an unconventional love story" and I think this is a bit of an understatement. All I can really say in this opening paragraph is that The Lobster is more of an experience than a film.

In a dystopian future where forced encouplement is mandatory, David (Colin Farrell) is sent for a forty-five day stay at a hotel where he must find love within this time period. If he does not, he will be turned into an animal of his choosing. He is able to get more time to complete this by hunting down "loners" (single people who live in the woods) and will get an extra day for every loner captured. He becomes friends with the Lisping Man (John C. Reilly) and the Limping Man (Ben Whishaw). After a violent encounter, David flees the hotel and joins the loners, whose leader (Léa Seydoux) is suspicious of him. He soon falls in love with the Short Sighted Woman (Rachel Weisz).

This is Greek director Yargos Lanthimos' first English language film and it shows. Throughout the film I was wondering whether or not the writer had a grasp of English and apparently not. This, however, does not work against the film at all. Indeed it is quite the opposite. The simple sentences that are present actually makes the dystopian future more disturbing. At the same time it also makes it very funny, especially with the demonstrations on why being single is dangerous. While we're on the subject of dystopias, this one is done really well. We are not told how this future is functioning, we only get revealed to it piece by piece for us to figure out on our own.

The film takes quite a satirical approach to current societal norms, especially that of being in a relationship. Except this takes that expectation to the extreme. A single woman is stopped and searched extensively in a shopping mall. The single people who fail to find a match get released into the wild once they are turned into animals and once in this state they are vulnerable to whatever happens to them.

I'd walk a little faster, but these pants are really tight.

Colin Farrell's straight performance makes this black comedy even funnier than it is. It already has an uneasy comedic quality to it, but once you watch David's acceptance that he must spend the first 24 hours with one hand tied behind his back, you'll be laughing. Even more when the Lisping Man's punishment for masturbating is having his hand burnt in a toaster. These oddball laughs can come out of nowhere, like when the Limping Man decides to suddenly bash his face against the wall to impress the Nosebleed Woman (Jessica Barden).

Colin Farrell is remarkable as David. His somber mood reflects the entire feel of the movie and his acceptance of the world makes you feel comfortable with the entire setting. John C. Reilly is uniquely offbeat with his Lisping Man, but not too far away from his famous character Dr. Steve Brule. Ben Whishaw's desperate performance is great. Rachel Weisz has excellent chemistry with Farrell.

The Lobster will leave you speechless once you've finished watching it. You'll be confused, you'll be amazed. One thing's for sure, you won't forget it.

Black Sea

Kevin Macdonald's latest film Black Sea is a weird, dark and undoubtedly thrilling submarine film which mixes in elements of the heist genre. It has the feel of a Cold War era action film, but is it an entertaining ride? 

Captain Robinson (Jude Law) works in deep-sea salvage, and has just been made redundant. As he discusses his problems over a drink with his mate Kurston (Daniel Ryan) and a Russian man, Blackie (Konstantin Khabensky), Kurston tells them that in WWII a German U-Boat, supposedly stuffed to the brim with gold, sank in the Black Sea and that whilst some large third-parties were interested in salvaging it, they had become embroiled in political red-tape. Kurston has a plan to salvage the gold, and sends the other two to negotiate a deal with a rich man named Lewis (Tobias Menzies), who can fund the expedition. Before they begin the trip, Robinson finds a young man, Tobin (Bobby Schofield) waiting at Kurston's apartment, who informs Robinson that he's committed suicide. Robinson recruits Tobin in his place and the crew travel to Crimea, where they join a Russian crew and the old Russian sub that they're to use. However, once under way, the expedition doesn't go to plan with the claustrophobic conditions, value of the find, and division between the crew adding to the conflict.

Black Sea doesn't hang about. After a brief establishing conversation, Robinson is already working to get the plan under way, and this pace continues through to the very end of the film. It covers so much ground that it's difficult to believe that it's less than two hours in length. The 'U-boat full of gold' back story is interesting with enough intrigue to work, and apart from a few unnecessary flashbacks that create the illusion of character development, the story - and indeed, the characters - fixate on the events within the submarine. The influence of other sub films like Das Boot are pretty obvious, with scattered references throughout, and the overall feel of the film, the tension and claustrophobia, is reminiscent of some Cold War era features. 

Captain Robinson hints throughout that he sees himself and his crew-mates, as the working class, treated like shit by the companies that originally hired them, and that they deserve the gold more than any of the "bankers" that are also hunting it. In his attempts to maintain an egalitarian mood on board the submarine, he's (ironically) frequently putting people into line, which is really where some of the complications begin. Many of them are out for a larger piece of the pie, and almost everybody on the sub is an enemy at one point or another, as they divide against each other. Another interesting character is Fraser, who seems to be a complete and utter nutter, with some conflicting viewpoints. For instance, after some psychopathic measures on his part early in the film, he argues for the moral choice against Robinson, then proceeds to flip back to his previous persona. Really though, all of the characters are quite well-rounded - enough for this type of film anyway - and the acting all-round is great.

This is ultimately an action film, and it succeeds admirably in creating a claustrophobic, dark, damp atmosphere in-fitting with the setting. There are very few wide shots in the film - all are external to the submarine - and from the very beginning of the film, the audience is right up in the face of the characters. There's a minimal use of CGI for the exterior shots and whilst it isn't 100% believable, it's never distracting. I love the fact that it's set in a rusty old Russian submarine, which is absolutely oozing with character (among other things). 

Black Sea has its faults - mainly with some jarring plot developments and unusual characters, but for what it seems to be setting out to achieve - to be an entertaining, atmospheric thriller - it certainly succeeds. Fans of other submarine films are sure to enjoy this.