The Lobster

[Tyler Purcell]

I remember seeing the first trailer for this movie quite a while ago. It kinda disappeared off my radar as the release date kept getting pushed back. I finally got an opportunity to see it last night at the Arclight cinema in Sherman Oaks California. It was put into one of their smaller houses for the 8:05 screening, which was depressing for a relatively new release. It was funny when the guy at the ticket counter said, this is where the art films go to die. He was joking of course, but maybe he wasn't?

 

So THE LOBSTER... It's deadpan humor was pretty spot on. The story is of course, takes place in our world, todays date, the only thing that's changed is that the government controls relationships. If you aren't in a relationship, you are sent out of the city to this boot camp for single people and if you can't find a new perfect match in under a certain amount of time, you are killed. They say "transformed" into an animal, but in reality, they kill you.

 

The cinematography is very plain, with the use of very few focal length lenses and very little added light. Most scenes seem naturally lit and there are some scenes of pretty decent sized grain particles during day exteriors, making me think it was shot at 800 ISO all the way through. The grain did make it seem more filmic, though I could tell right away it was shot with the Alexa. I was surprised with some of the clearly underexposed material which was pushed in post. Never the less, it did look good and very filmic for digital. Since there was very little camera movement in the movie, it was all about cutting and acting, rather then whiz bang camera moves, which was nice to see.

 

Over-all I enjoyed the movie, even though it could have lost 20 minutes and been the same product (translation: it was too long).

[Kenny N Suleimanagich]

I loved the way those forest scenes were shot. The cool, foggy atmosphere coupled with the deep browns and greens reminded me of Big Sur in the summertime. I also enjoyed the use of over cranking.