Before I even begin with the review, let’s just get two things clear: the film is a psychological thriller that unlike many uses immense art direction to communicate and hence secondly, wouldn’t really be liked or even understood by everybody.
It hardly happens these days that one stumbles upon such astounding cinema that has the sheer ability of holding people in it’s grasp even without laying out the plot for a very long time.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer is one such film. On platforms of film recommendations, this name was visible almost everywhere, and upon finally watching it, one could sense why.
Like most film reviews, giving out the plot of this film would be rather unfair, because the film itself refuses to do so for a good half an hour into it. But don’t take this to mean that it doesn’t hold you in. What could hold the attention though, where the plot is unclear? The shots. The camerawork. Both of these peculiarly define the relationships between the characters as well as the relationship between the character and its surrounding.
Apart from this, the acting performances helm the frame tight. With an ensemble of Nicole Kidman, Colin Farell, Barry Keoghan and Raffey Cassidy, the film intelligently lays out the framework of dynamics between these characters. For this, Director Yorgos Lanthimos makes good use of both silence and sound. Talking about camera movements, the film has astounding symmetry in shots as opposed to a totally haywire plot.
The background music gives an overdramatic hue to it all, and addresses us at unexpected times, making it even more terrifying than the silence that prevailed earlier.
Interestingly, there are also glimpses of Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut with similar use of lighting, sound and of course, Nicole Kidman.
All in all, the film is a beautiful portrayal of a sinister story and leaves one with a sense of satisfaction, upon its completion.
The F Word 