The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #54 extract: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Absolutely incredible. 

The Killing of a Sacred Deer marks a shift away from Lanthimos' established style, welcoming a more conventional structure and sense of drama. Lanthimos nonetheless retains his tone-deaf punch, creating a narrative around the heart of men and a masculine nightmare, turning seemingly heroic themes of sacrifice against its characters. Lanthimos constructs such a narrative by also introducing far more symbols and archetypes into his narrative than he has ever used before. The end result is a film that is less surgical (maybe ironically) with its approach to human psychology than the likes of Alps or Dogtooth, and instead far more organic and abstract. This sees his camera freed a great deal, giving the film a touch of Kubrick. 

All in all, however, The Killing of a Sacred Deer is just pure mastery from one of my absolute favourite contemporary directors.