A real different movie. Mostly peaceful, taking place in a pretty far from civilization farm in Iceland. Not much talking, not much noise, not much action either. The couple takes care of their farm and sheep. One day a lamb is born and they just take it inside, and start treating it like if it was their baby.
Again, there's no talking there, they don't talk about it, just see it, look at each other, and take it home. Now it sleeps in a crib in their room, and she feeds it with baby bottles while the mother (the sheep) keeps screaming at their window. The fact that they had a crib and baby bed ready suggests they probably lost a child at some point (if you don't catch on it there, it's emphasized later when she visits the grave).
So ok, weird, where is it going ? It takes a while where you're wondering if they see it as a human (and only them do ?), whether they're crazy or there's something else at play, until you finally get to see it: the head and one arm are lamb, but the rest is human. It's such a good choice. Instead of having a half lamb half human baby as the starting situation, that you would easily accept as the movie premises, you spend a while thinking it's about crazy people raising a lamb as a child THEN you get confronted with the supernatural part.
Now the question is, how will this work with the rest of society ? We get a glimpse with the visit of Ingvar's brother, when the child has grown, walks and is dressed like a human. At this point you're still wondering whether it's real or all in their heads: it's real. Sadly this will be the only other interaction with someone from outside the farm, would have loved to see her sent to school, but that's not the way the movie is going.
Then comes a bit of family drama, the brother obviously having a hard time accepting this creature as a child then warming up to it and apparently a complex past relationship with Maria. This is all ok but not super interesting either. You're just aware that some danger is lurking around. More aware than they are anyway, as no one seems to care that the dog is dead...
The fx on the child are great. She has an almost human form and stance, but not quite, is able to interact almost normally with objects (like plates and glasses), but with a lamb head that still manages to conveys understanding and emotions. It just looks pretty natural, really a great job.
And when you're just wondering where it's going next, the movie just stops brutally as a creature that is clearly the child's real father, a huge humanoid goat, kills Ingvar to take the child away. Kills him with a gun, not like a beast, but like a human would do. A just retribution for Maria killing the mother. Weird. Brutal. Totally unexpected. And in complete contrast with the rest of the movie's peaceful and almost natural (despite the child) atmosphere. Perfect.
A film that causes uneasiness, in its atmosphere, in its slow pace, in its apparent lack of action that nevertheless hides a lot of background. It's a strange psychological challenge: what looks like madness becomes reality, just as love can turn to rage when maternity wards rival each other. The director builds an echo of constant mourning, even when (apparent) happiness reaches the family. A dark, languid and sad tale that has its roots in the folklore of a dark, languid and sad country.
Heavy sigh. I wanted to love this but the messaging/point of the movie was so muddled that I don't really know what it is. I love a slow burn but this was waaaaay too slow, the slowness I guess supposedly adding meaning where the script did not. I don't blame anyone for loving it but I ended the movie annoyed and antsy.
Giving it a few extra starrs because the acting was very good, the lamb child looked really convincing, and the overall look of the film was quite beautiful.
Do not watch, stupid script, stupid acting, stupid stupid stupid.
This is not even categorize in Horror, just a stupid goat movie.
STAY AWAY
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
One of the strangest movies I have seen in a while but also one of the best. Its often disturbing but disarmingly so.
I already knew I was about to watch a strange movie, different from the classic horror films, and so it was. But not that bad.
A movie that leaves you with so many unanswered questions, an ending that leaves you with a "So what? Now what?", devoid of plot-level content other than "Yo there's my daughter with a fucking lamb's head on a human body and this is how we live". For 105 minutes you will simply see nothing.
Nice landscapes Iceland though
4.5/10
Painful to sit through because of how slow it was. I don't know what else to say. Just think of any slow films, this is 10x slower.
FEST 2021
Not gonna lie, I slept through most of this but I don’t think I’m ever going to rewatch it and I still feel like I didn’t miss anything so might as well log it. Merry Christmas, I guess!
probably contains a lot of mythological even religious? references but I don't like the movie. I couldn't took myself to laugh at the last scene
Icelandic Eraserhead. Or should I say Ice-lamb-ic?
Every once in a while you have to be taken out of your comfort zone. Lamb is one of those movies which will do that… eerie, captivating, stunning, shocking and unforgettable.
If you liked „The Witch”, or „Hagazusa” you’ll love The Lamb. This is perfectly acted dark folk tale with atmospheric horror elements.
Lamb is not a horror movie. Please ignore the marketing tacked to this movie and remove any presumption you having going in that this is a "horror" movie. It is not. It is a dark, eerie, sometimes self indulgent folktale about loss, infidelity and guilt. It's about what these things do to a once strong relationship and the people caught in the crossfire, told through metaphor and odd imagery.
Did I love Lamb? Far from it, but I got exactly what I expected from an oddball, indie-produced movie distributed by A24. It's obtuse, artsy, laden with metaphor and indirect storytelling. It's puzzling and not very clear, asking you to piece things together yourself through your own interpretation to understand what the real meaning behind the movie is. If none of this is singing to you, give it a miss. But if you enjoy the usual A24 affair of watching something, pondering it for a few hours and then hitting up a Reddit thread to confirm/build on your own theories, then Lamb will fit the bill perfectly.
A couple witnesses the birth of a half-lamb half-human creature and decides to raise it as their daughter. Religious references aside, I thought the film was mostly a parable on the strained relationship mankind has with its own primal instincts and with what nature gives and takes.
The pacing is overwhelmingly slow, but I rarely felt bored thanks to the evocative subtlety of the cinematography and the captivating score. The silent scenes where they let animals communicate with their eyes were particularly effective.
Nevertheless, it felt like much more could have been done with these themes. I understand that there might have been budget limits, but there was barely enough material for a 45-minute short, with voluntarily cryptic scenes that exist to emphasize the arthouse undertones and reach the minimum required length for a feature.
The theme of the movie was a decent idea. Too bad that it's so slow and boring. Also, there's nothing horror about it.
Well that was weird, and yet oddly effective in its exploration of loss and grief.
:heart:x6
Strange little movie. Iceland has been coming out with some interesting stuff lately.
Sadly I saw a version of the movie without english subtitles. Luckily there isn't much talking to begin with. As far as I could tell there was no talk/discussion about the newly born creature. How it may have come to be. However, this question is answered in the climax of the movie. In the final couple minutes of the movie a goat/human hybrid appears and shoots Ingvar just as Maria shot the mother goat earlier. And the adult creature took his child with him.
How I rate:
1-3 :heart: = seriously! don't waste your time
4-6 :heart: = you may or may not enjoy this
7-8 :heart: = I expect you will like this too
9-10 :heart: = movies and TV shows I really love!
One of the winners of Sitges in her own right, Noomi Rapace is superb and accompanies us through a tense and oppressive experience, all told as fantastic manners.
Films and Chips Podcast, Episode 10x11
i'll have a different comment for this later after i actually watch it, but i saw the second half of its trailer when i went to see the venom sequel and i'm gonna be honest all i got from it was that rooney mara was possibly cheating on her husband with a goat. sounds like it is very much not that, thankfully.
Shout by BartBlockedParent2021-11-01T19:53:26Z
Wtf did i just watched