Review: The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

Starring: Collin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan

The plot surrounds a well-known cardiac surgeon who befriends a teenage boy. After he is introduced to his family, tragic events start to take place

Yorgos Lanthimos, is an intriguing director known for his obscure and really unusual films, every film he has directed requires a lot of thought. His stories are debatable, as they are not all straightforward, and most of the time absurd. This is one of those films. This is also, Lanthimos’s 2nd western movie, after his Greek hit “Dogtooth”. I was excited with the possibilities of this film when I heard about it. I saw it the 2nd week after its release, and I have to say, I was quite skeptical, and I was met with mixed reactions.

The plot and story, not as straightforward is not as straightforward as you think, as it later gets weirder and darker. The plot is based on an ancient Greek tragedy play, and adopts some of the notions from Greek mythology. The tone of the film is overall creepy, dark, and just plain weird and twisted. It feels ever so haunting, in a very dark world, that Lanthimos’s imagination has placed us in, which varies in emotion, from happiness, to downright depression.

The performances in the movie were great. Lanthimos decided to recruit Colin Farrell yet again after his impressive performance in his previous film, “The Lobster”, and he is proving to be a valuable asset to his films. Nicole Kidman, was also impressive, but the standout has to be Keoghan. His shyness, and loneliness in one frame, just has us feeling sympathetic to him, then the next frame he’s a blood chilling presence. Bakatakis yet again, is excellent with his cinematography, immersing us in Lanthimos’s dark and gloomy mind.

The weakness in this film has to be its slow pacing. It is a really slow moving movie, and also a complex one. For a psychological horror film, it requires a open mind, for those who are not patient as an audience member, this film is not for you.

All in all, this film was great, but is not for all audiences. This is one of the many underrated films of 2017, which showcase the talented yet absurd imagination that is Yorgos Lanthimos.

My rating: 8/10

#FilmReview #2018