Rent Lamb (2021)

A nice and quiet horror. - Lamb review by CSF

Very difficult to write a review without spoilers. Some people succeeded remarkably! It is about a sheep farm in the middle of nowhere in a very cold country. After losting one, the happy couple of farmers manage to have a child eventually. Very slowly and very artistically, we are led through an incredible revelation. The first revelation is quick and one has to be attentive; you even wonder if you really saw it. Then comes the next revelation and you try to recover from the soft blow. When a member of the family visits them, he goes through the same soft blows as the spectator and reacts as the spectator (which is a relief). The film could also have been called The Silence of the Lamb, even if it has nothing to do with this story. I would say that the meaning or the lesson in the film is that one can be happy even when one is very different from the norm. But for how long..... My criticism is that I found the film too sober!

Lamb Cutlets Definitely Off the Menu! - Lamb review by The REAL Film Cricket

I used taciturn in my synopsis of this film and I was not kidding. With an overwhelming feeling of being ‘European’ we get long sweeping and frankly beautiful vistas of Iceland’s cold and mountainous wilderness and little dialogue. The main actors Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Guonason go about their characters’ lives as if they were really them. Just working hard and talking little. Real life if you like.

The acting immediately makes you feel that the two characters are happy with each other and indeed seem to love their lives but something is missing, something unsaid. This is well-acted and well-directed. It is patience and time that will lead you to the answer. Many filmgoers these days do not have this and I can imagine more than a few viewers turning the film off or leaving the showing within half an hour of the start.

But your patience is rewarded with a very slow-burning and bizarre tale that seems to have some roots in folklore, without research I cannot say if it is or is not, but if not it should be.

Now without knowing you could take what you see literally and it becomes a very weird, slightly spooky tale or it could be something allegorical where you need to look past the initial images and story. Truth be told I do not know but I did enjoy what I saw.

If I say any more about this story I will basically give away the simple storyline and as there are only three main actors, plus a voice actor, who all do fine believable jobs there is nothing much more I add.

The actors are all particularly good and naturalistic in the style of European acting, with a lot less flash and more slow burn. The Icelandic remote mountainous scenery reminds me of where I live now, the Scottish Highlands, and I can imagine that the rural work life is actually similar to this for anyone familiar with it.

What happens at the very beginning of the film and in the last half an hour or so does not happen too often to anyone – I hope.

Overall, Lamb is a slow-paced, slow-burning, bonkers tale with a fairly surprising ending, although what precedes the ending does point to the conclusion if you are paying attention. The acting and cinematography are top notch, Noomi Rapace always seems to be good no matter what she is asked to do.

I liked Lamb but I have to say if like a bit of whizz-bang action, actors getting very emotional and smashing cups to show that and so forth, this is not going to be the film for you but if you are looking for something weird and different this might be.