An iTunes rental on December 29th in Chicago, IL. This psychological horror film was written and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The film is a modernized version of the Greek tragedy Iphigenia at Aulis.
Colin Farrell plays renown cardiac surgeon Dr. Steven Murphy. He kind of mentors Martin (Barry Keoghan), a teenage boy who's father passed away. Steven holds back on some details about his relationship to Martin with his own family and eventually decides it's a good idea to invite him to dinner to meet his family. Martin is very charming and takes a shine to the Murphy's daughter Kim (Raffey Cassidy). Martin returns the favor by having Steven over for dinner but it doesn't go well after Martin's mother makes a pass him that he rebuffs and leaves. Over the next few days Martin tries to reconnect with Steven but is ignored. Meanwhile, Steven's son Bob (Sunny Suljic) is unable to use his legs one morning and is rushed to the hospital. Tests reveal that there is nothing wrong with Bob. While this is going on, Kim and Martin go out on a date and Kim becomes infatuated with Martin.
The next day at the hospital Martin and Steven speak in private and Martin reveals that he holds Steven responsible for his father's death. He has placed a curse Steven's family where they will suffer before dying a terrible death. In order to balance things out, Steven's family needs to be destroyed. Soon Kim falls to the curse and Steven comes clean with his wife Anna (Nicole Kidman) about his relationship with Martin. Anna, who is a doctor herself, investigates the operation and finds out that Steven had a few drinks prior to the surgery.
Kim and Bob are taken home but their condition does not improve. In a panic, kidnaps Martin and tortures him in order to lift the curse. Kim crawls down into the basement and offers to runaway with Martin if he'll make her better. Anna ends up releasing Martin reasoning that it will do no good to keep him and that they should kill one of the children as they can have more children. As Bob enters the final stage leading to death, Steven ties up the family in the living room and attempts to shoot one randomly while blindfolded.
To say the least, this picture pulled me in. The cast showed little emotion other than anger and seemed robotic but that was deliberate. Lanthimos uses a lot of angles to show how vast and empty things are. Everything appears antiseptic. Very nice use of color and light.
This is a very interesting film. In 2016 Lanthimos' American debut, The Lobster, received an 88% Rotten Tomatoes rating. There was a lot of positive buzz about the film for being different. This effort gives us more of the same and it received a 79% Rotten Tomatoes rating. This not a film for everyone, Lanthimos creates tension slowly and with a 121 minute run time, it may be too slow for some. Lanthimos is a director who's going in a different direction and it could be worthwhile to check out his past work and keep an eye out for his next film.
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