The Lobster (2015)

The Lobster takes a story that has been told a million times and puts an outlandish twist to it to tell some cold truths to its audience. It is set in the near future but that aspect is only there to give the sense that the subjects can not exist in the present but could twenty years from now.

The introduction scene sets up the strangeness that is to come with a shocking scene that automatically locks in the attention of the viewer. David, the main character, is a man whose only company is a dog. He speaks in a mechanical reluctant tone as if he himself questions every sentence he says. David gets sent to The Hotel, a place in which single people get turned into animals of they do not find a partner within their forty-five day stay. The strange prospect of the film is what keeps the viewers attention; you want an explanation but you will not find one unless you think a layer above the literal events that happen. The settings of the film are very claustrophobic, only what is needed is shown and what is shown is intentional.