Much ado about nothing

Rating: 2/10 (5 July 2016)

This film is a great example of the ability of films to offer strong, polished images, but offer very little in polished storytelling. The film contains many strong visuals, some pleasant and some disturbing. On the pleasant side, it offers scenes in a peaceful resort, beautiful scenery, and attractive and quirky characters. On the negative, it contains images and implications of violent death to both people and animals (and blood), crude depictions of sex (both normal and criminal sex) and characters that would easily qualify as psychopathic. The dialogue uses crude language and a minimum of storytelling exposition. The overall feeling is of people who are simply emotionally retarded, except for one or two, such as a maid who finds ways to rebel against the oppressive society in which she works. The film is far too long for the amount of story and message in it. It is also disjointed, so even if it had enough storytelling, it would be hard to follow. As a view of romantic relationships in an alternate future, it can be contrasted to "Her," which is a far superior film, much more moving, and much more satisfying to watch. "Her" tells a story in a logical sequence that leads to a sensible set of dramatic conclusions, and the viewer leaves thinking that it could plausibly happen in the foreseeable future. However, in "The Lobster," I left with the thought that this is too confused to be worth my effort to take seriously as a future. All in all, this film is not worth your time. I would give it a 1 out of 10 for its content alone, but I bump it up to 2 out of 10 for its cinematography.