💀 1. The Premise That’s Too Weird to Cheat Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Swiss Army Man begins with Hank (Paul Dano), a suicidal castaway stranded on a deserted island with nothing but despair—and questionable hygiene. Just when you think the film might lean toward emotional grit or whimsical isolation, in washes Manny (Daniel Radcliffe), … Read More ““Swiss Army Man” (2016) – A Dead Body Comedy That Smells Worse Than It Sounds” »
🎭 1. All Style, Little Substance Lanthimos dumps us into a candy-colored steampunk meets gothic fairytale world—beautiful, yes, but lifeless as a taxidermied robin. It’s dripping with pastel flair and fish-eye angles that scream Look at me, I’m art! But underneath? There’s no emotional beating heart, just a hollow shell dressed up for the Oscars. … Read More ““Poor Things” (2023) – Lanthimos’s Frankenstein That Forgot the Soul” »
Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite poses as biting historical satire, but it’s more self-indulgent pageant than powerful commentary—a tableau of power struggles and female rivalry that never quite earns our investment. It’s a visually dazzling indulgence—fine costumes, wide-angle lenses, candles flickering like Instagram filters—but the narrative and emotional core? Practically nonexistent. 🎭 Characters: Cold, Cruel, and … Read More ““The Favourite” (2018) – If Machiavelli Wrote a Grim High-End Soap Opera” »
Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster wants to be a funny, dystopian dating satire—but ends up feeling like a dark thesis on loneliness that forgot to give us characters we care about. Birds, bees, rhythm, and roses? Check. Hope, charm, emotional pay-off? Dead on arrival. 🦞 Premise That Feels Plucked The film dumps us into a bizarre … Read More ““The Lobster” (2015) – Yorgos Lanthimos’s Relationship Horror Show That Turns Dating into a Taboo Game” »
Yorgos Lanthimos’s Dogtooth has become legendary in arthouse circles—a deliberate punch to the gut masked as a twisted family drama. But let’s call a spade a spade: this film is not unsettling genius. It’s an exercise in mean-spirited absurdity, using its detachment and feigned profundity as a cudgel to beat its audience senseless. 🤬 Pure … Read More ““Dogtooth” (2009) – Yorgos Lanthimos’s Arthouse Black Hole of Emotional Cruelty” »
Before Dogtooth, before The Lobster, before The Favourite, there was My Best Friend, a film Lanthimos co-directed in 2001 with each ounce of his trademark oddness dialed way, way down. It’s hardly what you’d call “early Weird Wave”—it plays more like a Greek sitcom that accidentally forgot to be funny. Even Lanthimos himself has distanced … Read More ““My Best Friend” (2001) – Yorgos Lanthimos’s Lost Greek Farce That Even He Disowns” »
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Nimic is a 12-minute short film that somehow manages to feel longer than The Irishman and about as fulfilling as a cold toast breakfast at a grief counseling seminar. It’s a masterclass in doing absolutely everything a filmmaker can to alienate, confuse, and anesthetize their audience—without ever committing to a story, a point, … Read More “Nimic (2019): A Short Film, A Long Waste of Time, and Zero Pulse” »
Welcome to Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a movie that asks the question: “What if Greek tragedy was rebooted as a Kubrick knockoff starring people who sound like they’ve been drugged by their own blood pressure medication?” Strap in. Or don’t. The movie sure doesn’t care. This film is cold. Not emotionally … Read More “The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017): Revenge Served Cold, with a Side of Lobotomy” »
Before The Lobster made dead-eyed dystopia sexy and The Favourite taught us that powdered wigs pair nicely with passive aggression, Yorgos Lanthimos directed Alps—a movie so emotionally detached it feels like it was filmed in a morgue and written by a committee of sociopaths learning about human behavior via IKEA manuals. Alps asks a very … Read More “Alps (2011): A Grief Counseling Service Run by Sad Robots with Brain Damage” »
Let’s be honest: we’ve all seen a bad student film. The kind where the director insists that silence is profound, wide shots are holy, and plot is bourgeoisie. Kinetta, the cinematic debut of Greece’s deadpan emperor Yorgos Lanthimos, is one of those films—except it had the audacity to get distributed. In 2005, Lanthimos hadn’t yet … Read More “Kinetta (2005): Yorgos Lanthimos’ First Pancake—And It’s Still Raw in the Middle” »