[Blu-Ray Review] ‘The Lobster’: Now Available On Blu-ray & DVD From A24 & Lionsgate

The Lobster [Blu-Ray]

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Cast: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Léa Seydoux

Release Date: August 2, 2016

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 9/10
Disc Rating: 7/10

Synopsis:

In this highly imaginative, delightfully absurdist comedy, Colin Farrell stars as David, a man who has just been dumped by his wife. To make matters worse, David lives in a society where single people have 45 days to find true love, or else they are turned into the animal of their choice and released into the woods. David is kept at the mysterious HOTEL while he searches for a new partner, and after several romantic misadventures, decides to make a daring escape to abandon this world. He ultimately joins up with a rebel faction known as The Loners, a group founded on a complete rejection of romance. But once there, David meets an enigmatic stranger (Rachel Weisz) who stirs up unexpected and strong feelings within him.

Prepare yourself for a wonderfully twisted and offbeat tale of romance like you’ve never witnessed before. ‘The Lobster’ accompanies David (Farrell) after breaking up with his wife in a not too distant future in which only couples are allowed to live in the city and any single folks are required to immediately visit the Hotel upon becoming single where they are provided 45 days to find a partner and begin a new romance. Those who don’t successfully find romance within the allotted 45 days are turned into the animal of their choosing and subsequently let into the forest to begin their new animal life. Now the eccentric David must begin his quest before his time runs out and he becomes his selected animal, a lobster. As David begins to run short on time and a few brief flings only seem to breed more trouble, he begins to fear that he may have to seek other options, regardless of how dangerous they might be.

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth, Alps) from a script he additionally co-wrote with regular collaborator Efthimis Filippou, Lanthimos does an outstanding job at the helm of ‘The Lobster’ guiding this wonderfully dark and strange love story with a wondrous sense of beauty and grace. The film also owes a large share of the credit to the talented individuals comprising the cast including Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Léa Seydoux, John C. Reilly, Ben Whishaw Jessica Barden, and a number more, nearly all of whom deliver competent, if not impressive performances in each of their respective roles, especially Colin Farrell who delivers one of his finest performances to date.

‘The Lobster’ is a wonderfully twisted and offbeat romance that is constantly brimming with a perfectly fitting dry humor that results in one of the most splendidly odd films I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in some time. Guided with a gorgeous brilliance by well respected filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and further complimented by an outstanding cast including the talented Colin Farrell at his absolute best along with Rachel Weisz and a number more. The beautiful and seemingly endless scenery so often on prominent display only accentuates the film’s romantic aura and the fantastic score helps form this strange little gem of a film into something truly spectacular and mesmerizing that many will not dare to miss out on. The strange and often demented nature it embraces guarantees that ‘The Lobster’ definitely won’t be for everyone, but I can’t recommend it strongly enough to fans of Lanthimos’ work, in addition to lovers of art house cinema and anyone who appreciates an incredibly strange and equally beautiful film that dares to entirely disregard the norm.

Overall, ‘The Lobster’ is a strange, somewhat demented and often wildly hilarious love story like you’ve never seen. Perfectly guided by director Yorgos Lanthimos and featuring Colin Farrell in one of his most phenomenal performances to date, ‘The Lobster’ is a unique treat of a romance film that should be greatly appreciated by any fan of Yorgos Lanthimos and anyone who enjoys wonderfully eccentric films that dare to be drastically unlike the plethora of recycled ideas and storylines we so commonly see in film today.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Lobster’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks outstanding as a whole, providing a consistently sharp, detailed and gorgeous video presentation that perfectly captures the gorgeous scenery displayed within. It holds up admirably even during the few darkly lit sequences and never causes anything occurring on screen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, this is a wonderful high definition video presentation complimented by a more than adequate bitrate that should easily please the masses.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This lossless multichannel soundtrack delivers a sharp, clean and discrete audio presentation from start to finish. Utilizing all five available channels on numerous occasions in order to fully immerse the viewer within the beautiful score, as well as provide plenty of crowd chatter and common ambience, while never resulting in any dialogue which may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible. Overall, this is a solid 5.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtrack that compliments the overall viewing experience beautifully.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘The Lobster’ includes a single extra, although a notable one; a behind the scenes Featurette ‘The Fabric of Attraction: Concocting The Lobster’ (running approximately 23 minutes in length) which includes interviews/comments with the cast and crew, behind the scenes footage, script inserts and more.