"Lamb"
A pair of farmers in Iceland (Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snaer Gudnason) witness one of their flock birth a lamb, then adopt it. Things ensue...
The build up is excellent in this new A24 movie (because of course it is an A24 movie) and director Valdimar Johannsson has an excellent eye for dread. The first 20-30 minutes are an oddly ominous "day in the life of farmers", until the twist kicks in. Much like "Annette", it has a trump card to play, hiding it and teasing its reveal.
But unlike "Annette", when it plays its trump card it loses momentum. For a while there is more of that fun family dynamic in a cult comedy sort of way, especially when Petur shows up and I was expecting him to play it as Creepy Uncle Charlie from "Stoker" (I also just want to talk about "Stoker" with people and wish most movies were "Stoker").
Despite keeping up its atmosphere, however, it falters in its ending.
Spoilers!
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It feels unearned, after trying to go for a shocking "The VVitch" style ending (complete with Black Phillip Who Fucks) but also wanting to have an ambiguity to it throughout. If it had gone off-the-rails crazy like "Malignant", "The VVitch" or "Stoker", then it would have been improved. I'm not saying I wanted Noomi Rapace to fuck a goat, but I'm just saying
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