The Lobster (2015)

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou
Starring Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Léa Seydoux and John C. Reilly

In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into the woods.

If there was an academy award category for weirdest movie of the year, I can't think of any other movie that would top this one. Despite taking place in a rather unbelievable world, there is something rather familiar in the way characters interact with each other, all struggling to find love. The only difference is that the stakes are much higher in this universe.

In a way, it is an extreme exaggeration of how society views single people. Viewed as outcasts, citizens without partners are banished from the rest of the world and forced to find love within a tight timeline. The pressures of having "a normal life" are magnified tenfold when the threat of becoming an animal are thrown into play.

On the other end of the spectrum, when in a group of loners, the same prejudices are projected onto the idea of love and intimacy and any displays of such are punished just as harshly. It is a complex world in which there is little hope for happiness.

For such a random and uncomfortable film, it had a surprising amount to say about societies views on how others live their lives. This is for certain, not a film for everyone. It is aggressively outlandish and is performed as if it took place on another planet. But under that veil of deceit is an incredibly human story.

My Rating: 8/10

Rubber (2010)

Written and Directed by Quentin Dupieux

Starring Stephen Spinella, Jack Plotnick, Wings Hauser and Roxane Mesquida

As film spectators watch, a killer car tire comes to life in a desert dump site. It soon discovers it's telekinetic ability to make small animals and people's heads explode. Going on a rampage, the people running the show soon find themselves in over their heads when things don't go exactly as they planned.

What I like about this movie is the meta mindset it establishes from the first line of dialogue. Some scenarios or decisions in movies are for simply no reason. So why can't an entire movie be made for no reason at all? The filmmakers made it for the hell of it and they didn't try to hide it.

As an employee of a movie theater, the commentary by the spectators was hilarious. There were situations and exchanges between some of them that is very true to real life movie goers. This made for hilarious moments.

What I didn't like about the movie is that it felt like a joke that lasted too long. Even at it's short 82 minute running time, it overstayed it's welcome by about 50 minutes. Had this been a short film (or at least shorter than it already is), it could have been much better.

The filmmakers knew exactly what this movie was-- a nonsensical absurdist comedy/horror movie that isn't meant to be taken seriously. It just could have been better and I mean that sincerely. It had potential and would have achieved that had it been half of it's running time.

My Rating: 5/10