For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Fantasy Movies of the 21st Century, here’s a review of Lamb (2021) by Ryan of Ten Stars or Less.
Thanks again to Alan Sanders of the Wilder Ride for choosing this month’s genre.
Next month’s genre has been chosen by me and we will be reviewing our favorite Family Vacation Films
Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Aug by sending them to Familyvacation@movierob.net
Try to think out of the box!
Let’s see what Ryan thought of this movie:
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The July GG theme was 21st-century fantasy movies. Sadly there is not a long list of candidates from my favorite Nordic country (Sweden), so I went to my fallback plan and explored Icelandic films instead. I try to watch Scandinavian content when branching out of my comfort zone. My expectations are usually high because the content I seek is better than in North America. I decided to watch (painfully) and review (still speechless) the movie Lamb, which was a 2021 release. Classified as drama, fantasy, and horror on IMDb, Lamb should have fit the theme, but something tells me I missed the mark. I can see why it was dramatic while understanding why it could be considered fantasy. However, I refuse to believe this was a horror film. Maybe the people assigning these categories thought a baby with a lambs head was scary. Then the writers toss in a ram who breathes heavy and carries a gun. These people get scared easily over the silliest things. 
Lamb will not be for everyone; the film will go down as one of the weirdest I have ever seen. After the credits hit, I did not even bother researching the meaning and context of the story because I understood as it unfolded. I thought the entire premises was just too much. The concepts explored in the film were out there. We have all seen movies centered around grieving families who lost a child. Yet, I have never heard of a story like this. Playing pretend with a half human, half animal is probably not the best coping mechanism. On top of the half-breed and the pretend family moments, the film ends with an out-of-nowhere murder. One of the main characters dies, which throws the entire story for a loop. I had a dozen questions before one gunshot threw everything out the window. Much like the remaining cast, I had no clue what the f*** just happened. It was unpredictable and just off the charts. I highly doubt anyone could sense how the ending would play out, but maybe you have better senses than me. In the blink of an eye, the kid is missing while one of its parents bleeds out. Despite the shock value, the whole sequence was a lame payoff for such a tense build-up. If we are being honest with each other, Lamb is 1:46 long, and there may be 28 minutes of dialogue. The writers let the cast act every scene without words to build tension and suspense. Did this method work? My answer is no. I was bored and disinterested because nothing exciting happened. The ending may be the only interesting aspect of the film, but by that time, it will not matter. 
Lamb deserves the lowest score possible, yet I love the Icelandic setting, dialogue, and Noomi Rapace’s performance. 2/10
MovieRob 