You sort of answer it at the end, but maybe you just can't connect with his eccentricities and worldview?mfunk9786 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 28, 2018 1:51 amBrings me no particular joy (and surely no surprise to our forum's Lanthimos believers) to announce that I found this to be pretty terrible. One of the most excruciating sits at a movie theater is a film that finds itself smart and funny but is neither. One that throws around the word "cunt" like a flagging late-80s stand-up comedian who's being heckled, praying that the word alone will get a guffaw or two. Lanthimos insists on throwing in one fisheye lens shot per scene and trying to do his own Barry Lyndon lighting on lifeless hi-res digital, as though either of these things are suitable substitutes for a directorial point of view. Instead, it mostly looks kind of ugly - a good fit for the one-note blackhearted plot that heads nowhere particularly interesting. Emma Stone is the best thing here - because she's the most comedically gifted and can sell a whole island with her wide eyes and mischievous smirk. All the actors show up to one degree or another - it's surprisingly lively for Lanthimos. But unfortunately, when the jokes aren't landing and the shock (can you believe these royals are rolling around in the mud and puking? Wow) isn't either, the whole experience feels remarkably hollow. I'll keep trying with this guy, but if his writing wasn't the stumbling block, maybe it's just never going to work for me again.
Guessing I should never go back and re-watch Dogtooth.
Not to force or blame you, just because I do value your opinion. But I rather enjoyed Lobster and Sacred Deer, if I still didn't flat out love them I do find his methods effective on me.