The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Starring: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Alicia Silverstone, Raffey Cassidy, Bill Camp
Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
2017

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A surgeon (Colin Farrell) takes a young boy (Barry Keoghan) under his wing. However, the boy's behavior becomes increasingly erratic.

Review:

Tim: I sat down to watch The Killing of a Sacred Deer and within the first five minutes, I said, "This has to be by the same guy who did The Lobster." And sure enough, it's Yorgos Lanthimos. He has such a bizarre style- the characters in both films speak such dry, emotionless dialogue. It's so strange and yet oddly mesmerizing. It's hard to describe how it changes the movie. This is a psychological horror film, but the delivery of the characters gives it this unique, trippy feel. I enjoyed this movie slightly more than The Lobster, although I can't call either film legitimately good. Lanthimos' style is original, but unlike most of the critics out there, I haven't been overly impressed with the end result of his films.

This movie felt more accessible than The Lobster, although it certainly has plenty of undefined weirdness circulating through the film. In one aspect, the movie feels straightforward- a surgeon befriends the son of a former patient and the boy begins acting erratically. However, this movie is anything but straightforward. The boy puts a "curse" on the surgeon's family. This is the part of the film that Lanthimos purposely never explains. Is the curse real? How does it work? What does it all mean? The answers don't come readily. While some viewers might have been turned off by the sheer ambiguity of so much of the plot, I was fine not really knowing. It might be slightly annoying at times, but it mostly created a compelling sense of mystery. The movie does culminate in a bit of a shocking fashion. It's hard to fully understand everything because the story is purposely so dense- there's undoubtedly many layers of meaning here. Part of the issue I had is that the movie isn't compelling enough for me to spend a lot of time pulling those layers back. I understood the film and believe I picked up some of the symbolism, but there are certainly great aspects of the film that I just missed. The problem is that I didn't care enough to do a bunch of additional research or to sit and contemplate the film at any length. It was decent, but it certainly didn't inspire me to dig deeper.

Colin Farrell once again headlines Lanthimos' film. Farrell does a fantastic job of delivering in the appropriate style. It's dry and mostly emotionless, but Farrell sells it convincingly. I thought he was better here than in The Lobster. Nicole Kidman adds a nice supporting performance. While both are good, neither holds a candle to the incredible performance of Barry Keoghan. I can't begin to describe the array of emotions I experienced watching his performance. You care about him, you hate him, you're confused by him, you're mesmerized, you're chilled. It's an incredibly good performance that will elicit emotion from the audience. There were moments when I wanted to punch him in the face- that's how effective his performance was. It's really the best part of the film. One other note- I loved seeing Alicia Silverstone here. I didn't even recognize her for quite a while- it's been so long since I've seen her in a film. One side note on this point- her story wasn't handled all that well- she kind of disappears from the film, which felt unsatisfying.

I can't say I really enjoyed The Killing of a Sacred Deer, although I have to give Lanthimos credit for making movies unlike anything else out there. In a day and age when most movies are just copies of things we've seen a hundred times before, Lanthimos is doing something no one else is. It's a testament that it took me just a few minutes to understand that this was the same style as The Lobster- it's so recognizably different. And he deserves great credit for that. However, a unique style doesn't solely make good movies. I think he's getting closer, but the viewing experience of his movies isn't as entertaining as it needs to be. I'm certainly interested in seeing what he does next. As he refines his style, I believe he has the talent to make some great movies. This one is only decent, though.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Lobster