Review of The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) by Alam A — 12 Jan 2018

Intriguing, beguiling and wholly mesmerizing. Beautifully, clinically photographed -- I was reminded of Cronenberg's "Dead Ringers," and many of Kubrick's icy compositions. And, too, the idiosyncratic screenplay was read with an interesting cadence and pace, reminding me a bit of the way Mamet has his characters speak.

Kidman and Farrell are superb! The overall ensemble deserves major kudos! The only negative, for me, would be the final chapter, which was very rough in editing and continuity flow. Specifically, at the end, when Steven tells Anna to come downstairs and she replies that she wants to put on that special black dress (as talked about earlier in the film), the edit to the following scene in the salon with everyone seated was very jarring -- and, too, why bring up the black dress when there's no follow-up to it? Obviously, I don't want to give away the scene; nonetheless, it reminded me of a similarly jarring cut that was made in Scorsese's "NY, NY" (the hotel fight scene, then miraculously getting away in a cab).

Something definitely got left on the editing room floor, you think? Well, other than that, I was held in rapt through the end. Certainly, this kind of steely-cold and deliberately calculated film is not for mainstream audiences, as it deserves a great deal of patience.

For someone of my bent, however, it was a suspenseful watch.... :).