I was prepared to dislike The Lobster, if only because of the last Yorgos Lanthimos movie I had seen. That would be Dogtooth (2009), in which a couple kept their children from the outside world, taught them the wrong names for things, and encouraged incest. While The Lobster is not as preposterous — and I must concede that’s not saying much — it is more intriguing, even funny, in ways just as dysfunctional.
Two men are on the run. With them is a young boy, who we learn from the news has been kidnapped. Earmuffs and goggles are the extent of his restraint, although we also note that the eyehole on the motel door has been taped over, the window boarded up.
Ryota spends a lot of time at the office. The way he sees it, he is a good provider: his family lives comfortably and his son goes to a private school. A staunch believer in the virtue of hard work, he is intent on instilling the same in the boy. When his wife suggests he should give Keita some slack, he cuts her off. “It’s enough that one of us pampers him.”
The thing with reunions is that people can get stuck on how wonderful things used to be. It has been almost ten years since Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass completed the Bourne trilogy. It was solid genre work, stylistically of a piece (although Greengrass did not helm the initial installment). And now they’re back with Jason Bourne, because apparently there is still some closure to be had. Cynic that I am, it never occurred to me they are simply out to milk the franchise this time.
First things first: there is nothing to learn about food (indeed cooking) in Burnt. Oh, there is a lot of it on display, but I will be damned if I can tell you what are on those plates, or imagine how they might taste. The characters mock-lovingly describe their cooking as “old-school,” and I wonder how much I have lagged behind the times. That’s so you know where I’m coming from.
I make no bones about finding Pa’s tastes occasionally weird. How many octogenarians (and by this I mean those healthy in all respects that count) still watch Tom and Jerry, much less the entire Looney Tunes catalogue? Then there are the movies of Aki Kaurismäki, which may defy your idea of what comedy is — he likes those, too. The rest, which I shall unfairly lump together as “that rubbish regurgitated by Cinema One,” is what leaves me scratching my head.
It’s amazing what we believe as kids, childhood being that fertile phase where our fears germinate. Perhaps that explains the enduring appeal of the Shake, Rattle & Roll series among my generation. I used to think that no one took such crap seriously, until that day at Bohol Bee Farm almost a decade ago when I entered a friend’s room and found a black candle ablaze on the dresser.
Sometimes I wonder what it’s like not to have to bring one’s critical faculty to the movies. Would I find Ex with Benefits less offensive then? I do not want to denigrate others’ idea of what they should get for their hard-earned ₱200. Besides, the film is on its second week and still pulling in crowds. I certainly hate being a spoilsport, so let me explain.
They meet in a detention center, the illegal and the volunteer caseworker. She has been warned to keep her distance — “Never give your number or you will get calls at night” — but when Samba asks, she demurs for all of a few seconds before spitting out the digits.
To say that Kolya is unhappy is to perhaps read more into the hauntingly stark northern Russian landscape that frames this movie. Granted, he has enough drama in his life. His teenage son hates his stepmother, and the mayor, Vadim (Roman Madyanov, who looks like a portly Donald Trump), is after his property with the collusion of the police, the district court, and, to an extent, the Orthodox Church. So, yes, Kolya’s entitled to be unhappy.
