Review of The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) by Tal G — 08 Apr 2018

Very peculiar and unsettling.

Well it's definitely a Lanthimos film. Weirdly monotone dialogue, an off-kilter feeling that emanates from pretty much every scene. Strange characters. It feels like Lanthimos' movies all take place inside of this cinematic universe he created, where people all behave this way. It's amusing.

The movie sets a very unsettling and eerie atmosphere, but at the same time includes a lot of black humor, or just weird off beat humor. It all works well together, for some reason.

The story is rather simple, without any big twists. It's established early on. No clear answers are provided, and it all really makes you start theorizing and analyzing this film. I was satisfied with that. I guess I recognized that that's how it's gonna end, so I just accepted it for what it was.

The characters were all really well acted. They nailed the feeling Lanthimos was going for. I especially loved Martin's actor. I think this is his first major role, where he's given tons of screen time and dialogue, and I gotta say that he really impressed me. I hope he gets much more work following Dunkirk and Sacred Deer.

The music contributed a ton to the atmosphere, it was heavy throughout the movie. It meshed well. The visuals were very haunting and lonely. They added to the unique character of this movie.

It's definitely not for everyone, but I enjoyed watching another one of Lanthimos' unique projects. I thought it was a successful experiment.