Movie Review
Vladimar Johannsson's debut initially tells the story of Maria (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar; (Bjorn Hylnur Haraldsson) a couple grieving an unstoppable loss and their marriage hanging on by a thread in a disjointed existence on a remote sheep farm.
The isolation and monotony of the farmers' lives is captured in almost real-time poignancy; the first third of the film is dominated by sequences of sheep being fed, tagged and herded, and precious little dialogue occurs. But when the prospect of a newborn lamb's survival triggers Maria's frustrated maternal instinct, the natural order is disrupted with wild consequences.
Horror Film
"Lamb" is popular as a horror film. But while Johannsson's debut has its fair share of gore (much of which, obviously, occurs in the birth scenes) and is laced with gore, the film's wild elements transcend genre conventions.
We experience this in Lamb's moral and emotional uncertainty; the viewer is never quite sure who is the monster and who is the victim in this twisted equation.
For example, the character design of Ada the lamb (whose name is unsettlingly important in Part III) evokes both beauty and grotesqueness, as her parents (both human and hoofed) show this and that in the mountainous Icelandic landscape. comfort can turn into cruelty at any moment.
Slyly Funny
Lamb is also slyly funny. Johannasson pokes fun at the magical realist element of the film as he imagines the absurdity of an outsider understanding Maria, Ingvar and Ada's strange lifestyle when Ingvar's brother Petur unexpectedly walks in. (In the words of the creator; "Sometimes it's strange that you're funny.")
The greatest achievement of the Lamb is to convince us of this happiness. High-concept stories don't often rely on recognizable human emotion, but Conannsson avoids this trap thanks to the immensely empathetic performances of Rapace and Haraldsson.
Maria and the initially reluctant Ingvar hold, care for, and play with the little lamb with palpable joy. and subtlety. Despite the characters' faults, they truly love Ada.
Johanssonn mentioned that Ada should play more roles and even speak in the film first. At the last moment, the directors backed off and cut the screen time of the eponymous lamb to leave a certain mystique.
Interestingly, this reviewer found the scenes in which little Ada confronts her identity to be the most heartbreaking in a film full of devastation.
Lamb's combination of CGI and practical effects somehow embodies a real little soul as he looks at mirrors and pictures of sheep. Will he ever be human, despite what Maria and Ingvar want? With all the pain, confusion, and human frailty that followed, would he ever want to be?
Weird, disturbing and sometimes darkly funny; Lamb's deliciously troubled reflection on what it means to be human deserves every accolade.
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