For a film with a fine cast and a very interesting idea that is trying desperately to say something about the modern world and attitudes to relationships, sacrifice, love, fitting in and some other stuff I didn’t get this film is a disappointment.
As usual like an awful lot of films it is at least half-an-hour too long although the story appears to be good and slightly different, it starts off with good pace and is reasonable funny, different and interesting and then somehow loses its way and becomes turgid and eventually collapses in on itself and ends with a ‘you decide’ finale by which time you are either not watching or no longer invested in the story or characters.
Colin Farrell plays against type and delivers a performance two steps away for Ardal O’Hanlon in Father Ted but only because he and the rest of the top notch cast have been directed to deliver their lines like an emotionless read-through. It’s funny and different for a while and then gets tiring, trite and boring. The humour, particularly in the first ‘hotel’ part of the film is dark but it is funny and makes you laugh but once we get to the woods the film is just darker and the creepy, menacing feeling from the first half of the film changes to ‘unpleasant’ for the rest of the running time. Perhaps this is what the writers and director wanted but it did not sit well with me.
I’ve no doubt that the creators will point at the message they are trying to portray in their wacky way but I can’t help feeling that The Lobster like many weird and wonderful films fails due to the fact so many people will have no real idea what is going on or worse still will fail to care before the conclusion.
Millennium Actress, which is directed by Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Paprika, Paranoia Agent), is without a doubt his defining masterpiece in my opinion. This movie is a complete directorial tour de force and Kon literally blew my mind away with the editing, style and art that he displays in almost every scene. This is ultimately a biographical story about a young girl chasing after her first true love while becoming a popular Japanese movie actress but it morphs into something much more.
Millennium Actress probably had one of the most unique forms of story telling that I've ever seen in a movie. I loved how Chiyoko's story had a dualistic perspective as Kon seamlessly melds together images and scenes from the story of Chiyoko's own real life and from her famous films (which vary wildly from taking place in the Sengoku period to post-WW2 Japan to outer space). These transitions really add to the feeling and intensity of Chiyoko desperately chasing after and searching for her lost love. And you can't help but fall in love with the passion shown by both the main characters, Chiyoko and Genya. Just as Chiyoko says at the end, it was the "chase" that she truly loved and, by god, this film was one hell of a thrilling chase. This is an absolute must-watch for fans of Kon's other works.
