SCREEN SHOT - Lamb - the brief film review

Marie and Ingvar run a sheep farm in an isolated wild and austere rural area of Iceland. Very little is spoken between them, they intuit more than they express. They get on with their daily routines, feeding the sheep, birthing lambs, meals together, they are affectionate. They spend most of their time living an almost semi monastic life. Something unsaid exists between them. A sense of loneliness inhabits their life together.

One day during lambing, a ewe gives birth to something that astonishes them both, a lamb/child. Marie instantly wants to adopt it, despite Ingvar's initial misgivings. They name the lamb/child Ada and it becomes an integral part of their lives. Until into their families rural idle Ingvar's brother arrives, and a decidedly unexpected turn of events takes place.

Lamb, though promoted as a horror movie, is really a film about grief and loss. Ingvar and Marie have previously lost their own daughter, also called Ada. So is this lamb/child they are seeing merely a collective delusion between them?  Marie sees it as a new beginning for their relationship, and will allow nothing, including the mother ewe or Ingvar's brother to get in the way of that. 

If you surrender yourself up to the conceit of this movie, like its characters you cease thinking of how weird it is. Its a fascinating folk tinged tale, earthy and grounded in its spirit and fantasy. Filmed with such beautiful crystal clear, almost documentary, realism. It could easily be viewed entirely in complete silence. Slow slow cinema.

Noomi Rapace is outstanding, and brings her usual full on inhabited performance, filled with grief, belief and conviction. She is what makes the films premise so utterly convincing. Though it is brilliantly executed and well worth watching, it is as emotionally chilled as the landscape it is set in.

CARROT REVIEW - 6/8

Currently available to stream on Mubi and Amazon Prime.