Lamb (Valdimar Johannsson, 2021) Its title in Icelandic is Dýrið, which means 'The animal', and so applies not only to the 'lamb'.
Wikipedia calls this a 'folk horror' film. I wouldn't want to spend any time with 'folk' who would believe this nonsense. As for the 'horror', when we finally got to the big reveal I literally laughed out loud instead of being 'horrified'.
The basic setup is shot as if for a doco: ordinary, believable people doing everyday stuff you do in Iceland, like planting potatoes. Many shots are wide and held for an unusually long time. There's a notable absence of Hollywood continuity editing. I suppose the intention is to increase the plausibility of the scenario so that we also believe the 'horror'. Didn't work for me.
Wikipedia page.
IMDb.com page. What follows is some of its 'metascore' page, ten of the 33 critics quoted. It's noticeable that IMDb prefers the more favourable, as the site is now about selling films rather than simply giving information about them. I like the last one best.
68
Metascore
Based on 33 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com
80
IGN Siddhant Adlakha
Lamb is a wonderfully strange film about parenthood.
75
IndieWire Eric Kohn
Lamb takes a low-key minimalist approach to its premise that invites a certain shock-and-awe reaction before doubling back to give it purpose.
75
The A.V. Club Jesse Hassenger
This intimate, four-character film has its own quiet rhythms, compatible with yet distinct from any perceived A24 house style. It’s a hybrid of unnerving, dread-based horror and genuine domestic drama. Are they naturally so different, anyway?
75
Consequence Clint Worthington
Lamb takes on the ominous, warning air of an old fable, the kind of pre-Grimm fairy tale meant to threaten the gullible with punishment for transgressing against the natural order of things. And in that respect, it’s a mighty debut, one worthy to see what else Jóhannsson has to offer.
70
The Hollywood Reporter David Rooney
Lamb is a disturbing experience but also a highly original take on the anxieties of being a parent, a tale in which nature plus nurture yields a nightmare.
70
Screen Daily Wendy Ide
The brilliantly sustained mood and matter-of-fact absurdity of Valdimar Jóhannsson’s impressive debut is slightly let down by a pay-off which doesn’t entirely land. Still, the majority of the picture is strong enough to satisfy audiences with a taste for folk horror oddities, even if the ending isn’t quite as punchy as one might have anticipated.
70
Variety Jessica Kiang
No matter how pure your intentions nor how real your pain, these ancient myths all teach us, debts always come due, and the chilling denouement of Jóhannsson’s dark, deliberate debut suggests that is what Lamb is: a modern-day take on some ancient, pre-Disneyfication fairy tale or a nursery rhyme with a sinister history encoded into its Spartan melody.
63
Movie Nation Roger Moore
Whatever transpires or is left unexplained, Jóhannsson never loses track of the mood he sets out to establish, that of a frosty folk tale that suggests that not everything we do to cope with grief is healthy, acceptable and should be dressed up as a little girl.
50
The Playlist Elena Lazic
Lamb indeed is more of a slow build-up of dread than it is a real shocker, and Jóhannsson does know how to rack up the tension with long takes, long silences, and sparse set design.
50
Slant Magazine Keith Watson
Though eerie and quietly deadpan, the film circles its grab bag of themes for so long that it also becomes tedious.
Garry Gillard | reviews | New: 8 March, 2022 | Now: 8 March, 2022