The strange thing about dystopian futures is that when you take a hard look at some of them, it feels as if they aren't too far away. When looking at cinematic universes such as The Purge or today's film, you can see the reasoning behind the dystopia as it pertains to today's logic. The logic behind The Purge, which creates a perfect state 364 days of the year at the cost of one night of insanity, can widely play on the tropes dividing anarchy and perfection, and shows the horrors people are capable of when they have the night to do anything they please. Today's film plays on our society's ideals of romance and couples being a massive aspect of today's media making people feel they are an outcast if they aren't directly involved in romantics with a partner. But coming from a single man, it's difficult to describe this need.
I've never been one for romance or companionship (this has nothing to do with the fact that I'm socially awkward and couldn't have a girlfriend if I tried), but for some reason people see that as a fault on the person's part. The Lobster takes this to the extreme, taking place in a world where coupling up is mandatory. Each person must have a partner at all times in the world of The Lobster- male or female, it doesn't matter- and people who have divorced or are not in a relationship are sent to a special hotel/institute for the sole purpose of finding one. Our main character is David, a recently divorced glasses-sporting everyman, who checks in to the hotel with hopes of finding a new partner. This place has conditions, though: After forty-five days, if he has not found his true love (shown by sharing something simple in common, such as being shortsighted), he is to be turned into an animal and set loose into the woods nearby. David chooses a lobster should he fail, hence the film's title. The head of the hotel also explains cleverly that most people end up picking a dog, hence why there are so many dogs in the world and so few of endangered species. This is what became of David's brother, a dog who accompanies him to the hotel.
Eventually, David meets some friends, but running his time short, decides to fake being a heartless jerk in order to escape transformations. After an unspeakable incident with the heartless woman, he flees into the wilderness to escape the punishment and coupling society. There he meets the Loners, a vigilante group living off the wilderness while constantly evading the nightly hunts of the people of the hotel. But in one world where he will be killed and another where he will be punished for being a couple (in the Loner camp, they slit lips with razor blades for kissing), is there still a perfect girl for Davd out there? And in which world will he meet her?
For the simple plot of a romantic film-date or be an animal- this film is seriously dark. No kidding. There are some pretty brutal scenes of violence and graphic talk (the process of animal transformation is partly explained in a grisly talk, a man gets his hand in a toaster for doing something I' not permitted to discuss here, etc.). But, aside from that, it's pretty interesting and entertaining to watch and think about. It's one of the few romantic films that leaves it's audience filing out with a thoughtful face instead of a smiling one. Throw in a cliffhanger ending and you have a unique idea with a tense story and dystopian future, creating a stand-out, morbid, entertaining spectacle.
OVERALL RATING: 8/10
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Personally, I liked to think more about which animal I'd like to be. Can you guess? ...That's right. Hippopotamus.
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