Efthymis Filippou | Joy Reviews Movies

Starting off this review with a disclaimer: On the whole, I have not liked Yorgos Lanthimos’ previous films. I have seen both Dogtooth as well as The Lobster (or most of it anyway). Dogtooth I found at least somewhat intriguing and I did get through the whole film, and I really felt it had potential, however, The Lobster was the most pretentious drivel I have ever tried to watch in my entire lifetime, and I tried to sit through Chevalier at the Film Festival last year (more pretentious Greek drivel, albeit directed by someone else). So anyway, I was pretty well-equipped to turn the film off halfway through because I was fed up. I was fully and 100% prepared.

The slow-as-molasses pacing is very familiar. I got very distinct Nocturnal Animals, It Comes At Night (review coming, I promise), and of course, The Lobster vibes from it. Now, two out of three of those movies, I greatly disliked. There were differences between those 3 films at The Killing of a Sacred Deer, though, and one of the biggest ones was that I found the essence of this film to be much more ominous and much more compelling. The characters were all unsettling… probably even the ones that you’re supposed to like and feel empathetic towards, honestly. Everyone was stone-faced and completely devoid of emotion most of the time except maaaybe Nicole Kidman’s character. Kind of. The only character that really felt like he was playing the “right” role was Barry Keoghan – but the problem is, he’s supposed to be a stone-cold sociopath and the rest of the characters are not.

It wasn’t until the climactic ending that I realized this was supposed to be somewhat of a black comedy. It’s definitely not a film that you are supposed to connect or relate to — how can you, honestly? It’s bizarre and super esoteric and I have to say, I wouldn’t venture to watch it a second time. I mean, it wasn’t like, a struggle to get through it, but it wasn’t an enjoyable ride either.

The one thing I can and will gladly say is that the cinematography was on point. Some of the shots were just absolutely gorgeous. I don’t know, I don’t even really know what my opinion of this one is because it was just such a… strange movie. I didn’t come out thinking, “what a waste of 2 hours of my life,” but I also didn’t come out thinking, “that was wonderful, I am a changed person” so I guess it’s just kind of… “meh.” Not a total flop, but kind of disappointing… not a great success, but definitely there was ‘something’ there.

There are many things I don’t do in movie theatres, because it’s rude, because I hate it when people around me do it, because I think films should get your full attention (especially if you’ve paid to come and have a theatre experience in its honour). Things like using my phone in a theatre, talking to the person beside me, kicking the seat(s) in front of me… or leaving the theatre before the film has ended (other than to go to the washroom, of course). Today, I broke one of my own unwritten rules of the theatre. I stood up at about the halfway point in a film and I left. For reference, I’ve sat through some pretty abysmal films – my friend Paula reminded me that we sat through the entirety of Magic Mike when it was released in 2012 which I thought was about as poor as this film was… which is funny because they have very similar RottenTomatoes ratings (they’re both rated fresh, if you can believe it).

I can’t understate how excited I was to see Chevalier… honestly, this was the film I wanted to see – if I only saw one, this was going to be it, and I think that made it all the more disappointing. The trailer depicted this film as a hilarious movie about 6 men who are stuck on a boat and competing in the most ridiculous contests to determine who is the “Best in General” – contests where points are awarded and deducted pretty arbitrarily for things like sucking in one’s stomach? For tanning one’s legs? Vomiting? Who caught the biggest fish? I don’t know, it seemed like a comedy about men and their tendency to go overboard to ‘prove their worth,’ so to speak. That is not what I got. I don’t care what anyone says, the trailer is strictly false advertising.

Of course, I can’t comment on the end of the film. Maybe it all gets tied together, maybe the pay-off is great? I don’t know. BUT I sincerely doubt that any pay-off could be worth the suffering I endured for the first hour of the film. I was bored out of my mind. I fell asleep for little moments probably about four times. I squirmed in my seat, and not out of claustrophobia or a sense of being unsettled, out of boredom. I was in awe… of how bored I was. The cinematography was… wow. They didn’t know when to cut. We don’t need to see a panning shot of the entire boat that we’ve seen 8,000 times already. We don’t need to see the entirety of a boat making a turnaround, we get the point already! Nothing was funny. Not one character was likeable. The acting was okay at best. If you’re going to make a movie about 6 men having a pissing contest on a boat, you have to make the characters have some sort of relationship, a sort of camaraderie, with each other. I’m not sure how these men knew each other, were related, how they ended up on a boat together. I’m not sure why they were there. Were they working? Were they on a cruise? Vacation? I DON’T KNOW. Nothing was explained.

There was conflict, but I don’t know why or why it matters.

This is a film that I would choose to skip. I would like to go back in time and choose a different film. Needless to say, I am unimpressed.

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The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Chevalier (2015)