Film Review: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Director:

 Yorgos Lanthimos

Writers:

 Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou

Stars: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan

Yorgos Lanthimos is a bizarre sort.  A Greek import in the directing department, Lanthimos has impressed the indie world of filmmaking with strange fed movies like Dogtooth and Alps, but came to Hollywood in 2015 with one of the sweetest and strangest films ever in The Lobster.  Lanthimos' odd writing and directing (always with the writing partner of Efthymis Filippou) bleeds through the screen and his sharp vision on life and the awkwardness of humanity has become a masterclass.  With The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Lanthimos continues this habit of standing on the outside, but never looking in, and gives us one of the silliest, but disturbingly watchable films of the year.

I went into Sacred Deer with an immense love for The Lobster and excited to see Colin Farrell work with Lanthimos again.  This film was different.  It had the same sort of displaced direction that Lanthimos does best, forcing deadpan performances from everyone as if the people of the world had been drained of human emotion but still continued to feel them.  All the actor's cadences were mimicking one another, everything said was spit out strait and it shows Lanthimos' ability to direct everyone to his will and purpose.  The story itself is crazy and I suggest knowing as little as possible about the film (I won't spoil it here) and then watching it with complete confusion as you find out more and more as time goes on.  The music and tone of the film, all blended together in foreboding mischief of dark corners, was perfect to confuse the audience what the film really was until it is revealed half way through.

The real benefit of this film is seeing Barry Keoghan, who had a less than bit part in Dunkirk last year, show his ability to act with such talents as Farrell and Kidman.  He works perfectly in Lanthimos' twisted tale.  The acting only goes so far, however, letting the absurdity of the story soak in as it constantly misdirects towards any logical avenue.  The result is a dark but zany drama that could be a comedy or a horror film or a thriller or an allegory for humanity or something else entirely.  It is that kind of foggy misunderstanding that makes The Killing of a Sacred Deer something to really sit down and watch.  Pay attention to, absorb...if you can make it past the first minute of open heart surgery.

8 of 10

Tyler Baker