The Lobster (2015)

  Christy and I watched this last Sunday as part of our new thing.  Having seen a previous work by the director called Dogtooth, I was slightly more prepared for the ungodly amounts of weirdness in this film.

David (Colin Farrell) has just gotten a divorce after twelve years of marriage.  He now has 45 days to find a new partner or he will be turned into the animal of his choosing.  His brother Bob did not find a match and was turned into a dog.  He decides on a likely woman (Angeliki Papoulia), despite her lack of any and all empathy.  It doesn't work out and David is forced to go on the run.  He is taken in by the Loners, people who have rejected the forced pairings and live in the woods.  There he meets a woman with the same astigmatism (Rachel Weisz).  It's kismet.  Except that the Loners have just as strict a policy against couples as the rest of the world has for them.

I cannot stress enough how weird this film is.  It is funny and way more accessible than Dogtooth, but I would caution casual film fans to prepare themselves.

The film does have some interesting perceptions on the ideals of relationships in society wrapped in its absurdities but I'm not sure it's worth sitting through just for that.  It was also nominated at this year's Oscars for Best Original Screenplay.  It didn't win but it is certainly original.