Film Review — Lamb (2021)
★★★☆☆
A childless couple adopts an impossible newborn discovered on their isolated Icelandic farm.
Much like Ari Aster’s Sweden-set Midsommar, Lamb — the directorial debut of Valdimar Jóhannsson, who co-wrote the screenplay with renowned creative Sjón (The Northman) — pairs its unique nordic vistas with an unsettling tale of grief and isolation and a heavy side of left-field folk horror.
The production is impressive. Set in the sparsely populated, rural Icelandic countryside, Cinematographer Eli Arenson’s use of the country’s icy mountains and incorporation of its permanent summer daylight feels simultaneously liberating and oppressive. Together these elements go a long way towards the film’s unrelenting feeling of impending doom.
Impressive, too, is Noomi Rapace, on predictably fine form as a grieving mother whose determination to upend nature for her own happiness is played with desperate conviction.
Lamb has intriguing ideas, rich atmospherics and committed performances but ultimately fails to come together in a way that rewards. The presentation of the titular lamb is goofy and severely undermines a lot of what the film is trying to do visually, while the ending feels rushed and lacking in a tangible takeaway message.
A real shame. There was something special in the midst of all this, just waiting to be birthed.
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