This movie was classified under avant garde and caught my attention due to its weird scenario. The world this movie is set in is much like ours except that it is illegal to not be in love. If you are not in love (such as due to divorce or death), you are sent to a special type of hotel to find love. If you don’t meet someone in 45 days, you get transformed into an animal of your choosing – the main character chose a lobster, hence the movie name.

This movie started off really slow and I was thinking of cutting my losses and picking a new one. I kept watching as there wasn’t a strong movie selection this month. I think this movie is a caricature on how society finds love, and the pressures that people feel to find the one so they don’t get labelled as being bad goods. The problem is that the metaphors aren’t very clear and it is difficult to find the parallel to an absurd rule in the movie with our societal norms in real time.

Eventually the protagonist escapes from his 45-day deadline into the arms of “the loners” which as you might guess is the complete opposite of the hotel in which a band of refugees fight for survival with its own set of opposite rules (must not find love).

Aside from societal criticism, The Lobster also tries to shine light on the difference between love and having stuff in common (characteristics or children). It doesn’t really answer that question though (or maybe it is trying to say there is none). In any case, I think this movie is only half baked so I’ll give it a 2 out of 5 stars.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: moviereview