Lamb (2021 film)
Lamb | |
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Icelandic | Dýrið |
Directed by | Valdimar Jóhannsson |
Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Eli Arenson |
Edited by | Agnieszka Glinska |
Music by | Þórarinn Guðnason |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | |
Release dates |
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Running time | 107 minutes[4] |
Countries |
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Language | Icelandic |
Box office | $3.2 million[5] |
Lamb (
Plot
In Iceland, a herd of horses is spooked by an unknown, loudly-breathing entity that makes its way to a barn. Later, farmer María and her husband Ingvar are shocked when one of their pregnant sheep gives birth to a human/sheep hybrid with a mostly human body and a lamb's head and right arm.
María and Ingvar take the hybrid infant in as their own and grow to love her as their own child, naming her Ada after María's deceased daughter. The ewe that is Ada's biological mother misses her child and becomes a nuisance, attempting to contact Ada constantly and loitering outside the couple's home. Shortly after an incident where Ada goes missing and is later found next to the ewe, María shoots the ewe and buries her body in a shallow, unmarked grave. Unbeknownst to her, Ingvar's roving brother Pétur, who arrives at the farmhouse shortly before the killing, witnesses the incident before sleeping in the barn.
Pétur, who makes sexual advances towards María, is very disturbed by Ada and maintains the belief that "it's an animal, not a child". Ingvar claims the whole situation has given them happiness. Increasingly angered and disturbed by María and Ingvar's attachment to Ada, Pétur takes her on an early morning walk while everyone is asleep with the intention of shooting her. After having a tearful change of heart, however, he is later seen soundly sleeping with Ada and soon becomes an uncle to her.
One evening, while María, Pétur, and Ingvar are having a drunken party, Ada witnesses the unknown entity from before near the barn. The entity then proceeds to kill the family's dog before taking the family's gun. After the party, a drunk Ingvar goes to bed. Pétur makes sexual advances towards María once again. When she rejects his advances, Pétur reveals that he witnessed María killing Ada's sheep mother, trying to blackmail María into having sex with him by threatening to reveal this to Ada. María pretends to be seduced by Pétur in order to lock him in a storage room.
The next morning, Maria unlocks the storage room and drives him to the bus stop, sending him away, insisting she is committed to a new start with her family. After waking up to find María and Pétur missing, Ingvar takes Ada to fix the broken tractor left halfway to the lake, the attempt proven unsuccessful. On their way back home, the entity, revealed to be a ram/man hybrid and Ada's biological father, emerges and shoots Ingvar in the neck, before taking a tearful Ada with him and walking away into the wilderness.
María returns home and finds that Ingvar and Ada are missing. She searches for the two and discovers Ingvar before he dies, and despairs at the loss of her husband and new child. María searches the wilderness in vain, before closing her tear-filled eyes.
Cast
- Noomi Rapace as María
- Hilmir Snær Guðnason as Ingvar
- Björn Hlynur Haraldsson as Pétur
- Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson as man on television
- Lára Björk Hall as the voice of Ada
Production
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2022) |
In February 2019, Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snær Guðnason had joined the cast of the film, with Valdimar Jóhannsson directing from a screenplay he wrote alongside Sjón.[9]
Release
In June 2020, the film was sold across
The film had its world premiere on 13 July 2021 as part of the official selection at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section.[16] It was released in the United States on 8 October 2021.[citation needed] The film also had a special screening of BFI London Film Festival on 15 October 2021[17]
Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada, Lamb was released alongside No Time to Die and earned $1 million from 583 theaters, finishing seventh and marking the best-ever opening weekend for an Icelandic film in the U.S.[18]
Critical response
On the
David Fear of
Richard Brody of The New Yorker was more critical of the film, saying that it "preens and strains to be admired even as it reduces its characters to pieces on a game board and its actors to puppets."[27] Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail criticized the film's ending as being "like a parody of an A24 horror movie", and wrote, "I won't make the obvious joke and say it's baaad. But its sheep thrills are mutton to write home about, either."[28] Alison Willmore of Vulture wrote, "By the time the final act rolls around, Lamb approaches the idea that there's a price that must be paid with a shrugging diffidence rather than impending doom. It's such an underwhelming conclusion to a film with such a compelling start."[29]
See also
- List of submissions to the 94th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
- List of Icelandic submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
References
- ^ "Dýrið - Ísland" (in Icelandic). Nordic Council of Ministers. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ "Lamb (2022)". Swedish Film Database. Swedish Film Institute. 9 December 2021. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Archivedfrom the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ "Lamb". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ "Lamb (2021)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
- ^ "New A24 Horror Movie Lamb Could be the Craziest Film of the Fall". 28 July 2021.
- ^ "PISF - Premiera kinowa koprodukcji "Lamb"".
- ^ Kjartan Gestsson, Davíð (18 October 2021). "Kvikmyndin Dýrið verður framlag Íslands til Óskarsverðlauna 2022". RÚV. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
- ^ Barraclough, Leo (8 February 2019). "Noomi Rapace Boards Supernatural Drama 'Lamb,' Sold by New Europe (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
- ^ Mitchell, Wendy. "Buyers feast on Icelandic drama 'Lamb' (Exclusive)". ScreenDaily. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
- ^ Barraclough, Leo (23 June 2020). "Noomi Rapace Supernatural Drama 'Lamb' Sells Across Europe (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
- ^ Miska, Brad (24 June 2020). "Gorgeous First Shot of Noomi Rapace in Supernatural Drama 'Lamb' [Cannes]". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
- ^ "LAMB – New Europe Film Sales". New Europe Film Sales. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
- ^ Ritman, Alex (18 June 2021). "Noomi Rapace Cannes-Bound Drama 'Lamb' Snared by Mubi in Multi-Territory Deal (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
- ^ Barraclough, Leo (5 July 2021). "A24's Pickup of Cannes Un Certain Regard Film 'Lamb' ConfirmeNew Europe Film Sales Debuts Teaser". Variety. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
- ^ "The films of the Official Selection 2021". 3 June 2021.
- ^ "BFI is Special Screening on Lamb (2021) in USA". Bfi.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (10 October 2021). "'No Time to Die', Daniel Craig's Final Bond Film, Opens to $56M Domestic Opening – Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
- ^ "Lamb". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
- Fandom, Inc.Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ^ Fear, David (9 October 2021). "'Lamb' Is the Sweetest, Most Touching Horror-Movie Nightmare You've Ever Seen". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ Walsh, Katie (7 October 2021). "Review: Horror haunts the edges of darkly meditative Icelandic folk tale 'Lamb'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ Morgenstern, Joe (7 October 2021). "'Lamb' Review: Shear Brilliance". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
- ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ Brody, Richard (8 October 2021). ""Lamb," Reviewed: A Horror Film Where Cleverness Is the Problem". The New Yorker. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ Hertz, Barry (5 October 2021). "Review: Wild horror film Lamb will do mutton for your parental anxieties". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ Willmore, Alison (8 October 2021). "Lamb Is a Dark Fairy Tale With a Great Concept and Not Much to Say". Vulture. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
External links
- Lamb at IMDb