Lamb Review

It’s been two days since I saw Icelandic filmmaker Valdimar Jóhannsson’s film Lamb, and I’m still not really sure how to talk about it. I think my main thoughts on it are that it’s absolutely a movie that I respect more than I like. I don’t really have any feelings towards it whatsoever; it mostly left me feeling ambivalent. Part of the reason is because I just can’t relate to the parental anxieties of it, as a single lesbian, but also I just felt like it was so often cold and detached in a way that didn’t really suit it.

Perhaps it’s just not on my wavelength. I really thought it was going to be; it has some similarities to a previous A24-distributed film that’s among my favorites; that being 2016’s The Witch. The concept is highly intriguing to me; two sheep farmers adopt a half-human, half-sheep baby and start to raise it as their own, but something sinister seems to be building in the wake of this decision. The cinematography capturing the bleak beauty of the Icelandic countryside is practically perfect, and the performances from Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snær Guðnason and Björn Hlynur Haraldsson are excellent. But I left the theater feeling ultimately indifferent to what I had just witnessed.

I’m reviewing this film because it was one of a number of horror and horror-centric films I wanted to see in theaters this month, and while this is horror in a sense (horror to me is not about whether or not it’s trying to scare the audience but rather if it is dealing with ideas pertaining to fear or anxiety in relation to the characters within it) it was also very poorly marketed. Sure, the trailer was awesome and got me hyped for the film, but it also really misrepresents it (not that I’d know how to properly market this, to be fair). Lamb has undercurrents of anxiety that at times dominate the story, but at its core it’s a folk tale family drama about nature and parenting. It’s also very, very slow. A lot of people are going to be disappointed, I think. I don’t think that makes the movie bad, but it’s still worth mentioning.

There is a lot about Lamb that I like. The story’s atypical structure and constantly evolving tone and dynamics keep things interesting, and there are plenty of genuinely wholesome or genuinely unnerving scenes. There’s even a few good laughs. Ada, the titular lamb/human girl, is adorable and sweet and a wonderful character to follow. It also presents some fascinating themes about the divide between nature and humanity that I found genuinely thought provoking.

Ultimately, though, I just can’t find that much to say about Lamb. It didn’t really grip me in a way that kept me engaged with it after the credits were over, and it’s too artsy to work as a pure slice of entertainment. I think it’ll definitely find a niche of people who will love it, and if all of this sounds interesting to you, you should definitely go and see it. For me, though, it didn’t quite do the trick.