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The Lobster is a curious film with shades of the Coen Brothers or Grand Hotel Budapest (the fact that so much is set in a hotel is incidental, or hotels in movies are places to be avoided). Dysfunctional characters drift through, delivering their lines with humorous lack of awareness and emotion, strange rituals are performed to bond the guests, and all the time the clock is ticking - find a partner, become a couple, within 45 days or be turned into an animal of your choice.

The first part of the film is amusing, quirky and entertaining. The style is pleasant and interesting, despite some nasty moments. Some of the shots drag a little, but it adds to the curious atmosphere. The dry, deadpan dialogue is perfectly delivered, Colin Farrell as the main protagonist shows he really is a fine actor.

Then the film changes. New characters are introduced and the mood becomes much bleaker. No longer is this humorous, the stakes have changed. It is hard to identify with the new characters as we had already invested emotion in the earlier ones. And it gets worse, leading to en ending that is as unclear as it is unpleasant.

The Lobster cannot seem to make up its mind what kind of a film it is, is it simply saying that we are all venal and craven in the end? If so, why the humour at the beginning? And if we are capable of love, is it really so shallow as to be broken by people saying things?

I loved the beginning, I didn't like the end. This was one fish dish that left a bad taste.

I had heard reviews of The Lobster and, while sounding interesting, it also sounded odd enough to delay me in getting round to seeing it. Like many have said, the plot is weird; single people are sent to a hotel and given a period of time to find a match or else they will be turned into the creature of their choosing and released to the wild. Those struggling can add days to their stay by being successful on hunts for those singles who have broken free and live as collective individuals in the woods.

The concept is cleverly constructed so that it is weirdly convincing despite its utter absurdity. Within this the film satirizes relationships, singles – in particular the extremes of those two situations. The push for companionship, with its common ground, and its rituals, and the digs at elements of life such as children distracting from conflict. Perhaps it hit a bit too close to home with its regimented rituals, and awkward neediness. On the other side the extreme version of singlehood is also dug at once we are in the woods. It is not as clever as some would tell you, nor as smart, but it is certainly interesting, darkly funny, and pretty engaging throughout. It doesn't pull it off totally, but I enjoyed it from start to finish – its oddity runs through from the ideas, the performances, down into the specific dialogue. Having such a great cast helps, but the tightness of creative vision throughout is what holds it all together. As odd and slightly unsuccessful as it is, it is still well worth watching.

There's no chance that you'll see a film as weird as The Lobster this whole year. In what is effectively an indie art-house piece, you get a completely insane and almost unfathomable world filled with more and more absurdities everywhere you look. However, it's such an incredibly unique and eye-catching film that it's still hugely engrossing and surprisingly entertaining to watch.

The story centres around one man, played by Colin Farrell, as he attempts to find a partner as a part of this bizarre system. The first act revolves around his time in 'The Hotel', and is not only hugely odd, but both dramatic and unnerving as well as hilarious to watch, featuring some of the best dark comedy written in years.

The film takes its story as seriously as any drama, and you feel that through the deeply disturbing atmosphere that emerges off the screen. However, as the film is just so weird, it eases you into the oddness of it all very impressively through the use of humour, something that more pretentious art-house films fail to do, and are resultantly a lot harder to really get into.

So, you'll definitely be laughing a lot, if not in a more disturbed than hugely entertained manner, throughout the first act, and by the end of it, you'll surely be as used as you can be to the incredibly weird feel of this whole film.

Just to give you an idea of how unorthodox this film is, every scene is full of awkward silences, the actors speak as if they're reading off of cue cards with no emotion whatsoever, the imagery is very ugly and unpleasant to look at right the way through, and the incredible slow pace of it all means that the film feels like it goes on for about five times as long as it actually does.

And yet, I still can't get around the fact that this is a brilliant film. Mainly, it's the fact that it's just so unique and almost shockingly bizarre, but it's just filled with so many captivating ideas that it's impossible not to be fully drawn into this insane story.

So, the performances, the directing, the writing, and pretty much everything is stunning, apart from one big issue that prevents this from being a truly incredible film. Following the end of the first act, the film does lose its way quite a lot, taking almost too big a leap into an even stranger abyss than you ever imagined at the beginning, and, with a little less humour in the latter stages, isn't as easy to watch as the first act had been.

However, it does pick up again towards a terrifying and as bizarre as ever conclusion, and that's why I'm going to give The Lobster a 9 out of 10, but I must warn you that if you feel you can't cope with this film for longer than the first twenty minutes, then it's not for you. This is definitely a cult film for the ages, but won't be a big hit with general audiences.

The Lobster is a surreal deadpan comedy about the strangeness of social pressures and modern relationships.

The setting is a bleak, tightly controlled hotel on the coast of Ireland. David (Colin Farrell), a recently divorced Architect, is given 40 days to find a partner or else be transformed into an animal of his choosing; in this case, a lobster. Sound strange? That's just the first 10 minutes. Guests of the hotel are subjected to routine trips to shoot 'loners' with tranquillisers, and awkward high-school dances to entice singles to mingle. As David's days start running out, he decides to feign common interest with a heartless woman in order to escape his fate. But can he pull it off?

Farrell really hits the mark with this role, displaying awkward machismo and fragile humility in equal measure. His comedic timing is matched only by his supporting cast that includes John C. Reilly, Ashley Jensen, and Olivia Coleman. Rachel Weisz is also spot-on as the short-sighted woman.

The Lobster has just about everything you'd want from a film. It's unpredictable, it's offbeat, and it's laugh-out-loud funny. But it's most impressive feature is the subtext - it manages to reflect how odd our own modern-day social pressures are. How loneliness is feared, how individuality loses out to the mainstream system, and how relationships have to be deemed 'legitimate' by some higher order. There's plenty to talk about with this film, and I'll definitely be seeing it again to delve a little deeper....

The film's concept: all adults who have recently lost a partner through death or divorce are sent to a hotel, where if they do not fall in love within 45 days, they are surgically transformed into an animal of their choosing. ''A lobster's a great choice''.

I try not to explain the film's plot when somebody asks, so as not to completely dissuade them from viewing. Maybe this ridiculous concept is in reference to how ridiculous forcing someone to fall in love due to common interests is, or even just forcing someone to eventually get married, a practice common in the modern world. A comment on the societal pressures put on single adults. There are constant references and reminders to how even numbers are perfect, a couple. There is a further commentary on applying limiting labels and boxes to people, bisexual not being an option on the sexuality question, no half-sized shoes.

Collin Farrell and Rachel Weisz, along with the many minor characters, all add to the film greatly. There are no weak actors which I could point out. The screen writing can be fast and witty at times, but I felt the ''quirkiness'' was definitely overdone. The robotic and monotonous speech pattern was generally funny but also overdone.

I have spoken to many people who do not enjoy this film, and I can definitely respect and understand their opinion. The Lobster is not for everyone, with it's strange plot, writing and imagery. It's script is similar to that of a Wes Anderson film, but still remains very dark, and at times, disturbing. It is without a doubt, a slow film, heavily reliant on dialogue (which many people won't even find funny).

I would recommend the film to people who enjoy quirky films such as Frank, Juno or The Grand Budapest Hotel, although The Lobster is definitely darker than those examples.

Probably one of the strangest film I've ever watched.

"The Lobster" takes the tropes and expectations of modern-day relationships and satirises them almost out of existence. The farcical "Hotel" aims to partner 'loner' humans with each other (based on 1 characteristic) in a stress-inducing timeframe of 45 days, often resulting in deception and the suppression of true feelings in order to garner a relationship as a means of escape. The other side of the coin is the outcast tribe living a meagre existence in the woods, where even flirting is punished with physical mutilation. The cold mechanical delivery of every single character's lines emphasises the absurdity of the situation, and bizarrely makes the jokes even funnier. Not since Richard Ayoade's "The Double" has cripplingly awkward humour been so effective. This film has a lot to say about the fickle nature of relationships, set against the background of a dystopian society. The cinematography is as flat as the actors' delivery; this contributes to the emotionally-stunted, often silent world that the characters inhabit. The ending is beautifully ambiguous and surprisingly tense for such an understated scene. A score which fluctuates from terse, rough string melodies to Italian opera heightens the sense of weird-art-film which pervades "The Lobster": definitely a film which requires full attention, reflection, and a mind open to arty weirdness, "The Lobster" is a remarkable oddity.

You know how there is pressure to conform, find a partner and live a "normal life"? You know how those who don't conform appear to live unsatisfying lives whilst protesting that they are not? This film takes an hour to say that, then the second hour offers no answers and has an ambiguous and unsatisfying ending.

In a world where staying single is a breach of acceptable social norms, single people are isolated in a hotel and forced to find a partner in 45 days otherwise they will be turned into an animal of their choosing. People who somehow manage to escape to the woods are called 'loners' and are occasionally hunted by the hotel dwellers. An incongruous story that must have made Kafka dance in his grave, not only because it breaks away from logic but because it takes the absurd to a new level of significance. The Lobster has all elements of absurdist fiction – dark humor, irrationality, and cynicism, add to that a lurking social criticism that hits your mind and soul hard. The narrative is constructed in a way that lures you into giving up all your logical defenses after the first few minutes and totally surrender to the surreality of events. I truly envy writer and director Yorgos Lanthimos for having a mind that can come up with such twisted and brilliant stories.

If you have to choose between pretending to have feelings when you don't and pretending not to have feelings when you do, which would you prefer? This seems to be the kernel question of the film. The hotel dwellers are forced to pretend they have feelings for people in order to avoid being turned into animals. On the other hand, the loners are banned from showing feelings for each other even if they do. This absurd conundrum levels harsh criticism against a society that advocates binary opposition, an inherent concept that has become part and parcel of the human belief system of love and relationships as well. From the beginning of the film, it is made clear that there are no gray areas in this world; you're either heterosexual or homosexual, a size 44 or a size 45. It might not be that severe in the real world, but emotional extremism is just as bad. If you are in a relationship, you are expected to love to the fullest, and if you appreciate isolation and individuality, you are stigmatized as a heartless loner all the way through. Whatever you choose, you have to bend your personality or change something in yourself to fit in either group. In the film, this forced appropriation takes an emotional and a physical form, and it keeps you wondering which leaves more permanent scars, emotional or physical transformation? The story disparages a society that fails to acknowledge the paradoxical human condition – humans need company, yet they are innately loners; they love other people, yet they love themselves more; they have feelings, yet feelings are not meant to last forever; they are spiritual, yet predominantly physical. A world that fails to recognize this complexity is a pathetic, oppressive place.

As usual, Lanthimos' script is funny, iaconic and strikingly smart; all the dialogues are meaningful despite their seeming absurdity, and the scenes are meticulously written to contribute to the intricate world of the story and its underlying intended significance. One of my favorite scenes in the film is when the hotel manager (Olivia Colman) visits David (Colin Farrell) in his room and tells him that he has to carefully choose the animal he wants to turn into because, as an animal, he won't be able to have a sexual relationship with an animal of a different species, something that he can't already do as a human being since he has to find a 'matching' partner. The whole conversation is very humorous and absurd, and the joke continues as we see how people strive hard to find matching qualities in their partners including nosebleeds, limps, good voice, shortsightedness and lack of emotions. An extremely elaborate and cunning joke that deconstructs the myth of soulmate.

I think the acting is great and one of the main sources of dark humor and irony in the film. Imagine a story about love and relationships where actors don't show a single hint of emotions and talk and walk like constipated corpses most of the time. Martin McDonagh has already rediscovered Colin Farrell as a comedian in In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths and it is always nice to see another director picking up on that streak. Ben Whishaw and Aggeliki Papoulia are notably spectacular.

As if it isn't enough for Lanthimos to subvert storytelling and acting norms, he seems to play with artistic trends too. If you are familiar with the Lars von Trier's cinematographic experimentation (Antichrist and Melancholia in particular), you will see how Lanthimos uses slow motion and classic music to create a grandiose effect that stands in a hilarious contrast with the event taking place on the screen.

The Lobster is another must-watch multilayered witty narrative from the impeccable imaginarium of Yorgos Lanthimos.

It went straight to my heart and to my all-time favorite films list.

There are rules that you must follow every day, quite contradictory, depending where you stay, some encourage you to mingle, others like you to stay single, contravention has a hefty price to pay. No evidence exists for these directions, though they're pursued by folk with little hesitation, but occasionally you'll see, someone escape and run and flee, as they wish to play, by other regulations.

A wonderful piece of filmmaking, that perfectly captures the often ridiculous actions, activities and exertions we all undertake, to a certain degree, in order to comply with the beliefs that are indoctrinated into us from a very early age and, if you're lucky, able to wash away, as the pretence is discovered and replaced by those carefully recrafted by yourself.

Weird, whacky & wicked but equally dull, sterile & vapid, The Lobster is a strange beast that actually begins quite well but tumbles down the road after the halfway mark to conclude on a rather uninteresting note. The concept is no doubt intriguing and it takes its time to make us familiar to the society inhabiting its tale but all of it doesn't amount to much in the end & it fails to leave any lasting impression.

Set in a dystopian future, The Lobster presents a world in which single people are arrested & taken to a hotel where they are obliged to find a matching partner within 45 days or they are transformed into animals & released into the woods. The plot follows David who arrives at the hotel for the same reason but his endeavours of finding a mate before his time is over ends far more tragically than he expected.

Co-written & directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, The Lobster marks his English-language debut and the idea & inspiration behind it is both clever & admirable. The sequences taking place in the hotel are nicely carried out but its second half lacks the same level of creativity that's present in the first half. The excitement goes missing once the protagonist leaves the hotel and from there on, it just limps throughout its remaining runtime.

The hotel is neatly maintained but it also has a creepy vibe about it. Camera movements are fluid, colour hues wonderfully compliment its overcast ambiance and lighting seems natural for the most part. Editing allows the plot to unfold at an unhurried pace but the whole story feels twice as long because of that, with no idea of where it's headed. Last, the background score is just as odd as the story's content and is intermittently utilised.

Coming to the performances, The Lobster features a fine cast in Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw & John C. Reilly and most of them are simply bland & lifeless in their respective roles. It can be argued that the spiritless rendition of these scripted people was deliberate but it doesn't really help in enriching the experience, at all. The deadpan wit is occasionally amusing but it's also too easy to get frustrated by whatever is happening.

On an overall scale, The Lobster is an uncanny mix of bizarre ideas that, in its effort to play with multiple things at once, may end up drifting many of its viewers. While I found nothing lovable about it, its parody of the society that gives way too much credit to companionship, in addition to the dig it takes at those match-making algorithms which rely on similar traits & likeness factor is one aspect I liked but in all seriousness, The Lobster is too mediocre to be of any significance.

David (Colin Farrell) is taken to an isolated hotel. His wife has just left him. The hotel clients have 45 days to find a partner before they are turned into an animal. David's dog is his brother after failing to find a match. He selects to be changed into a lobster. There are particular rules and planned events to the hotel.

This is one strange movie. It does have an internal logic which it is able to keep. It's weirdly funny at times. The deadpan mannerism doesn't keep the movie static. It is able to maintain a compelling story despite its peculiar world. This movie has ideas and it stays with them. Yorgos Lanthimos and his collaborator Efthymis Filippou have done some weird stuff like Dogtooth. This one is able to recruit top shelf acting talents. The second half gets over-extended as it tries to expand the world. The hotel is such a curious place that I would rather stay there for the whole movie.

I like slow movies, I like (not exclusively) movies that are different, and I have enjoyed movies that were wacky just for the sake of it.

But this movie is just pointless. Just like a Michael Bay movie is a series of disjointed superficial action scenes, just there to show CGI and huge explosions, this movie is a series of disjointed "artsy" scenes, just to show the audience superficial weirdness, not even for the sake of it.

There is no depth to anything.

I see many people compare this movie to Wes Anderson's movies (as well as various other directors of similar genre). The problem is that these directors use certain framing, lighting, slow motion etc, and certain narrative techniques for a reason. They are there to tell you something, they set up some emotional connection, they tell you about a character, they set a mood important for the story, etc. etc.

Without going into spoilers, there is no point to many things in the movie. You can easily just leave many scenes, techniques and characters out, or rearrange them, it wouldn't make any difference, because they have no meaning. They are just randomly there to be weird character "A", and absurd situation "4". While other things are just cheap setups for cliché payoffs without any connection to the story or each other.

The more I think about this movie, the more superficial and flat it becomes. Some people call the movie pretentious, but it isn't even that. There is nothing there for it to be pretentious about.

I"m forced to give it some stars because the movie doesn't even do us the decency of being bad. The actors know how to act, the camera man knows how to operate the camera, and the man in the cutting room knows how to cut, the locations are well chosen, and the director directed. It's a well made piece of nothing.

Being a Yorgos Lanthimos virgin, I was attracted to the title by its quirky premise and interesting cast list. I approached with cautious optimism, hoping to find a gem at the very least. What I found instead was a cinematic treasure trove.

The Lobster follows David (Colin Farrel) in a society where it is unacceptable to be single. When David's wife leaves him he is sent to The Hotel where he has 45 days to find a partner. If he finds one - awesome. If he fails, he will be turned into an animal. Of his choice, naturally.

It's stylish, it's got technique, it's disorienting (in a good way), it asks questions about us and doesn't really care about hearing our answers. It instills within you the great sense of uneasiness that the characters must feel in this collection of increasingly odd situations through stilted, brutally frank dialogue in a masterclass of a script. The performances, also, are stunning. I was pleasantly surprised by Rachel Weisz in her subtly moving role as the Short Sighted Woman.

Having watched it no more than five hours ago, I find myself recalling it as if it was a dream. The carefully considered combination of editing and cinematography gives the feature that lifted, slightly angled and unaligned feel. Its world presents itself to you in a disembodied kind of way and, in the way you may leave your bed after a dream, you will leave the cinema questioning everything about it.

I can honestly say The Lobster has entered the ranks of my favourite films. Go and catch this while it's still in cinemas - the critically thirsty mind will not remain unquenched.

It took some time to let Yorgos Lanthimos' new film "The Lobster" settle into my mind. On the surface is a dark comedy, full of rich images, and staggering performances from its principal cast. Deeper lays one of the most original and heart wrenching stories on modern relationships, likely the best seen in film since Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." "The Lobster" tells the story of a dystopian near future, where single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty- five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods. At the center is David (played by Colin Farrell), who enters the Hotel with his brother, who's been turned into a dog, and begins a domino effect that will make him both an outcast and a fugitive. Beginning with a hilarious and smart script by Lanthimos and co- writer Efthymis Filippou, "The Lobster" gets some of the year's biggest laughs. The two create a symphony of truth about our society's perception of relationships and love. When David first enters the hotel, you can see the initial despair and fight against the system. He believes in the idea of love but isn't particularly fond of being under its spell once again. Its simply life and death but when the story makes him an outcast, where love is forbidden, you see his hopeless romantic self become drawn to his "Short Sighted Woman." (played by Rachel Weisz) The evolution of David's outlook on his current situation is authentic and real, as he shows the center of his heartache in only intermittent spurts. You can thank all that to the powerhouse performance by Colin Farrell, who delivers his best and most audacious film role to date. "The Lobster" isn't just about its script and lead performer. It also assembles one of the year's best cast ensembles. Rachel Weisz is a sensation, giving her best work since her Oscar-winning role in "The Constant Gardener." As the "Lisping Man," its refreshing to see John C. Reilly dig deep into a role like this, one of which we haven't seen from him in nearly a decade. As the "Limping Man," Ben Whishaw continues to build an arsenal of titanic-like performances, all of which solidifies him as one of the best kept secrets working today. More roles for him please. As the "Loner Leader," Léa Seydoux's villainous and vile demeanor is a fantastical addition, adding a needed depth and danger to the film and role. Olivia Colman's Hotel Manager is a bonus treat, as she effortlessly brings chuckles and fear to her mystery woman. Cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis finds his stride and vision early on, capturing an aesthetic that is both stylized and advantageous. The visual contrast is dazzling and particularly noteworthy but what's lurking between each and every frame is especially dynamic and robust. One of the year's very best. Upon first viewing, Yorgos Mavropsaridis' editing work can seem bloated but over 24 hours later, it's a taut and vivaciously engaging piece, cut with a resemblance of Jeff Buchanan and Eric Zumbrunnen's snubbed work on Spike Jonze's "Her." The score is insanely haunting and very appropriate for its dark natured comic look at life. It took some time to digest but "The Lobster" feels full of life and is a soulful opus on love. Quirky and clever, its black comic tones shouldn't distract from its core narrative and mission; to engage the parimeters and infatuation of devotion. Just a dream.

The Lobster is a surreal and darkly satirical film that explores the absurdities of modern relationships and societal expectations. Set in a dystopian future where single people are forced to find a romantic partner or be transformed into an animal, the film follows a recently divorced man's quest to find a partner. With its unusual premise and unconventional storytelling, "The Lobster" offers a unique and thought-provoking commentary on love, relationships and societal norms. The movie is very unique and definitely will not be everyone's cup of tea. The lyrical ending also provides the viewer with the "you'll love it or hate it" aftertaste.

I personally enjoyed the movie, but I can't say that its unique style was really my thing.

So bereft of any human emotion, The Lobster sacrifices everything in an attempt to be "absurdist dark comedy", and fails in every single aspect. Most of the film consists of awfully written dialogue, unnecessarily long shots, and it tries so unbelievably hard to be artistic that it loses any sight of what a film should actually be, and is so ridiculously boring. The plot of the film is hard to describe, but it just pisses me off how often it tries to make the plot "interesting", by throwing in characters, or shots that are added just to confuse the viewer. Most of the film has cruel intentions, throwing people off of buildings, only to suffer to death, kicking dogs to death, and blinding people for seemingly no reason. This film is not funny at all. I laughed maybe once or twice, but only because the film was so bad. I hate this artistic garbage, and it seriously felt so preachy, boring, and unfunny. I dislike this movie so very much, because it's very bad, but it thinks it's so good.

Set in a dystopian, fascist future, single people are sent to a hotel where they must find a partner in 45 days or get turned into a wild animal of their choice. David's wife has just left him, after 11 years of marriage, and he is sent the hotel. His chosen animal, should he not find a partner, is a lobster.

Quite intriguing, initially. The whole idea and set up was so inane you felt compelled to stick with it. The sheer novelty of it all sucks you in.

However, almost as quickly, the cracks in the concept and plot start to appear. Why do people go along with the preposterous idea? If they are forced to find a partner, why not just find anyone and pretend to be a couple, rather than suffer this fate? While obviously the central idea is quite ridiculous, it is the way people respond to it that is truly implausible and sets the movie up to fail.

Also, why does the opposite of this "couples are everything" regime have to be a "being a perpetual loner is the only way to go" group. Surely there can be a middle ground? The extreme polarity of it all was irritating.

Despite these flaws, however, there was a chance this could develop into an interesting drama. I figured I was happy to overlook these obvious faults if the movie got some momentum. Alas, no, it just gets worse and worse. From a point the plot just becomes very random and, ultimately, pointless.

Only worth watching if you're curious to know what all the fuss is about, but be prepared to be disappointed.