Quirky, Dark Comedy; not for everyone

Rating: 9/10 (19 December 2015)

This film tackles a variety of interesting themes through the lenses of this strange and fairly ridiculous dystopian future. The basic premise for the film is that in a dystopian future any single person in society is brought to a hotel where they have 45 days to find a partner or be transformed into the animal of their choosing and be released into the wild. Of course, with that premise the film must have a humor about itself to work and it does. This film from beginning to end has a well balanced sprinkle of dark and depressing moments with this outlook on a future dystopia.
While being a rather dark story the film has an understanding of it's own ridiculousness and uses that as the inspiration of the dark humor in almost every scene. While being a very odd film, it says very intelligent things about human behavior and the nature of relationships. Much of the film is an analysis of romance, love, and what a genuine relationship really is. The actors in the film have a lot required of them and they totally deliver. Colin Farrell gives a great performance in the lead role. Due to the nature of their situation and society the characters often have to have a simple complexity to them. We never for a second are questioning the thoughts our motivations of a single character. Every character in the movie is for moments of the film playing a role for the surrounding characters in order to get something they want. For that reason, I saw that it was important that I knew what the characters were thinking. With that said, I found that the frequent voice over by Rachel Weisz to be somewhat tedious and annoying. I wanted to get a feel for these characters and this world and I found my immersion being interrupted by a pointless segment of voice over.
This film has very complex storytelling it needs to accomplish and it does so with intricate detail and a clever narrative arch that goes in unexpected directions. There are dozens of moments in the film in which a random out of place animal will drift in the background for a single shot. The style of this film both technically and structurally often reminded me of films like The Master (2012). This film could have easily become hollywoodized and become a movie about a societal revolution but the film keeps the quirkiness and humor and maintains the focus on the situations surrounding Colin Farrell's character of David. This film is so strange in its presentation, in the performances, and in the very dark humor but it still somehow manages to be emotionally and intellectually captivating. Many viewers won't be able to engage with this film which is neither a flaw of the viewer or the film. This movie has a very unique sensibility and style that many people will find off-putting. I, personally, fully bought into this world and these characters and I will be excited to revisit this film again.