Oct 8 2021

Lamb

At a remote Icelandic farm a couple, María (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason), discover a strange newborn amongst their sheep. Still recovering from the loss of their daughter Ada, this new and unexpected gift offers the couple a taste of happiness and sense of family, but at what cost? Directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson and Written by Sjón and Jóhannsson this three act tale of mother nature’s revenge starts with a fantastically crafted premise and setup, and, hilariously wonderful elements of horror woven into the purity and brutality of farm life. However, as acts two and three unfold, the film fails to fully develop into a cogent horror or a cohesive tale of folklore but instead moves sideways to take an undeserved out. In totality, what we have is a scene, not a complete story and perhaps the nuggets of a good short film that’s gone on to become an hour and forty six minutes long; which, in this case feels about an hour and twenty minutes too long. Points for creativity, demerits for lack of arc. Lamb is rated R.