The Killing of a Sacred Deer

The end of the year is approaching and soon I'll be sharing my top picks, which will definitely include the oddity called The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The film is definitely not for everyone and is similarly controversial to the recent Mother!, but Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos definitely has talent (his previous films Dogtooth and The Lobster are also weird). The film is very disturbing from the start and we get the sense that something is not right. The dialogue and the actors' strangely theatrical speech is already odd but effective, and from the main twist onwards the film takes a decent turn and at times is not pleasant to watch. If you have kids you'll sympathise with the main character even more. Anxiety, unease, chills, breathtaking moments, impressive performances, bold dialogue and decent technical aspects make The Killing of a Sacred Deer a unique affair that despite its artsy form surprisingly suited and entertained me a lot. For me, a great recommendation, but I can understand the negative reviews. Naked Nicole Kidman is still gorgeous. 80%. (25/12/2017)

Saw for intellectuals. The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a cruel, disturbing and, in filmmaking terms, precise morality tale and perhaps even class satire (rich people destroy the lives of the poor and refuse to accept responsibility for it), but I found its second half to be monotonous in terms of both the characters’ suffering and style (slow dolly shots, overhead shots, close-ups of faces, unpleasant atonal music, over and over again). I understand that the mechanical nature of the structure and the acting is part of the director’s malevolent concept (forget about gradation or catharsis), but it deprives the film of dramatic tension and gives the impression that it doesn’t develop along with the characters, while also weakening the message. I didn’t get the impression that the film had anything else to say after the central dilemma had been revealed (which was possibly why Mirka Spáčilová providentially left the press screening after the scene in which Farrell forces a donut on his son). Instead, it distances itself from reality and thus diminishes the power of its message. The similarity to Kubrick or Haneke is mainly external, not in the effect that the film has on the viewer. 70% (30/10/2017)

It would be boring if all A-list filmmakers were normal. A disruption of a cold, perfectly rational world by an irrational force, a demon that cannot be defeated. Not as eccentrically intellectual as The Lobster, but with more viewer-friendly content, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is basically a genre movie for more discerning viewers. However, it is also unique in its execution. It is hypnotically slow, with brilliant shots and Bernard Herrmann-style horror music, while also being emotionally restrained and hellishly cruel. Colin Farrell is a chameleon and Nicole Kidman perfect as always, both as an actress and in her underwear. And the young Irish devil Barry Keoghan looks promising. [Cannes] (26/05/2017)

A wonderfully and amusingly strange film that will be appreciated especially by lovers of plenty of black humor and unusual films with crazy plots. For anyone who has already had the honor of watching Lanthimos’s films, this is simply another of his original and imaginative satirical images of human society, governed by absurd rules and funny-freezing cultural habits, and their creator does not need to explain in any way. Bizarre art. The best in Lanthimos's filmography so far (for me). (02/11/2017)

The Killing of a Sacred Deer has a very strong denouement that is simply great. It's disgusting, it's ugly, some people won't even want to watch it, but the script has put the characters in that state really well. This is not violence for violence's sake, but it's important in terms of the story. So even though Lanthimos' visuals are a bit repetitive, he still manages to wow the viewer. (16/03/2018)