Lamb (2021) Review

 "Baaa!"

Spoiler alert for Lamb!  Spoilers below this paragraph!  Before you read any farther, I'll go ahead and say I loved this movie, but I know it won't be for everyone.  See if for yourself.  You may love it, you may hate it, but you certainly won't forget it,  Again, SPOILERS BELOW!  You've been warned.

Farmers María (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) raise sheep in rural Iceland.  One day, when helping one of their sheep give birth, they are shocked to discover that the baby is mostly human, with one arm and its head being that of a lamb.  María and Ingvar quickly become attached to the lamb, name it Ada, and raise it as their child.  Unfortunately, not everyone is happy about this new family.

What Works:

First off, this concept is absolutely bonkers and I love it.  I'm always interested in movies that tackle a truly unique story that defies all mainstream films.  I'm not always a fan of the end product, but I appreciate the risk the filmmakers take and that is most certainly true here.  This movie takes a big swing and mostly knocks it out of the park.

The performances of Rapace and Guðnason ground the movie in a much needed way.  With these high concept movies, you need something to ground you and connect you to the story.  Rapace and Guðnason are really believable as a couple and you feel for them emotionally.  They embrace the weirdness of the situation quickly and almost make it feel normal.  Their love for Ada makes it easier for the audience to care about Ada and become invested in the story.

I don't like children, but I love animals.  I think that's the reason that I love Ada so much.  I've never been so emotionally invested in a child character in any movie ever.  Ada is so adorable that I spent the entire movie on the edge of my seat worried out of my mind that something bad was going to happen to her.  She definitely gets in danger a few times and since this is such fun unpredictable story, the tension is intense.  I was losing my mind with worry while watching Lamb and that is a huge compliment to the film.  Ada is the best.

Finally, we have the ending.  It doesn't entirely work for me, but parts of it do.  I knew something bad was going to happen as we got towards the end, but I had no idea what it would be.  A giant goat-man shooting and killing Ingvar was not on my Bingo card.  I was blown away (though not as much as Ingvar was).  That's a moment that is going to live rent-free in my head for a long time.  It's shocking, effective, and heart-breaking.  Poor Ada has to watch her adoptive father die as she is taken away.  Tears were definitely welling up as I watched it play out.  I can't remember the last time I've wanted to jump into a movie and do something to help as much as I did here.  This ending emotionally rocked me and you can't ask for much more than that in a film.

What Sucks:

What I didn't like about the ending comes from the emotional resolution.  There are two things in particular.  First is the character of Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson).  He's such a despicable character throughout the movie and pretty much gets off scot free.  The second is that the movie ends with Ingvar dead, Ada missing, and María crying.  It's a devastating ending where I really wanted more.  I could have handled one of these two storylines lacking a full resolution, but not both.  Some emotional closure would have been nice.

Verdict:

I loved about 98% of Lamb.  This a bizarre film grounded by two excellent lead performances and really is an emotional roller coaster with a lot of intensity and a shocking 3rd act.  I wish there was more emotional closure, but this film has still got it going on, and as of October 19th 2021, is my favorite movie of the year.

 9/10: Great