A couple discover a mysterious half-lamb/half-human newborn on their farm in Iceland. The unexpected prospect of family life brings them much joy, before ultimately destroying them.
Lamb – Film Review
Published August 31, 2022
Movie Details
There are so many things to fall in love with when it comes to Valdimar Jóhannsson‘s Lamb – a dazzlingly folkloric horror drama that whisks you away to a place that feels genuinely surreal and magical. The atmosphere in this film is seriously marvelous; it’s one of the best looking films in years.
But there are also so many things about this film that you can’t help but be outrageously annoyed and frustrated by. It’s certainly a film that takes a ton of big swings, but at the same time, it almost feels as if screenwriters Jóhannsson and Sjón didn’t do enough to fully flesh out this zany tale.
A film about a half-human/half-lamb could have potentially been one of the most bizarre movies in the history of cinema. And while Lamb is definitely a weird movie, it’s only weird solely because of that premise. The script had plenty of moments where we, the viewer, are shocked, but it also has moments that make us go “that was it?”
It’s incredibly frustrating. A handful of key scenes in Lamb made me feel legitimately uncomfortable and unnerved. It made me feel as though a pair of eyes were right on me while watching the movie and it made me feel disturbed, but at the same time, those feelings quickly dissipated as soon as the scene ended.
There are a lot of folks online who say that this movie is unintentionally hilarious, but those thoughts aren’t mine. There isn’t a single moment throughout Lamb‘s one-hundred-and-six minute runtime that is funny, although there are some scenes that make you go “What the hell?”
Noomi Rapace is absolutely fantastic in the role of Maria, who delivers one of her most quiet and understated performances to date. The cinematography by Eli Arenson is seriously some of the best work in years. The way this movie looks and feels is absolutely phenomenal. That, accompanied by the wonderful score by Þórarinn Guðnason, make this a technical masterpiece.
It’s just so disappointing that the film as a whole wasn’t able to match up to the technical aspects. The number one most important thing in a film is a good story and this movie unfortunately didn’t have one. If you’re highly into strange, folkloric horror, then you might as well give this a shot and see what you think, but keep your expectations in check.
Lamb is a technical masterpiece, but it unfortunately suffers from a bland script that goes absolutely nowhere.