"God only knows what I'd be without ewe"
July 27, 2021 3:18 PM   Subscribe

A24, who brought us the American-Swedish folk romp Midsommar (product), as well as Hereditary and The Lighthouse, have a new movie out: Lamb. It's set in Iceland, seems to be about sheep and lambing, and the trailer features a Beach Boys song.
posted by Wordshore (33 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
Well done with the title of this post! I didn't like Hereditary as much as many did, but the other films I absolutely loved. Lighthouse was the last movie I saw in a theater before Covid, and I'm really, really glad I saw it on a big screen in the dark with an audience. Looking forward to Lamb. I'm avoiding spoilers of any and all kind so I'm even skipping the trailer—even though my guess is the trailer doesn't give much away.
posted by SoberHighland at 3:24 PM on July 27, 2021 [6 favorites]


get out of my head, A24

how do they do it? and is The Green Knight any good, because I haven't seen it yet but I sure do want to see it. Also, the cat in the trailer landed a great role, you can just tell.
posted by elkevelvet at 3:24 PM on July 27, 2021 [3 favorites]


I'd just like to add, "A Classic Horror Story" (warning: trailer is a bit spoilery) is in a similar vein to "Midsommar" but Italian, and sprinkled with a healthy dash of "The Hills Have Eyes"
posted by elkevelvet at 3:31 PM on July 27, 2021 [4 favorites]


This multi-studio crossover event seems ambitious. They're obviously being tight lipped about it, but expectations for the rumoured "Old Macdonald" conclusion to the series are running high.
posted by juv3nal at 3:41 PM on July 27, 2021 [5 favorites]


I'd bet money on this.
posted by roue at 3:42 PM on July 27, 2021 [1 favorite]


Can’t wait for Lamb to team up with First Cow for the first crossover event of the A24 Ruminatic Universe
posted by oulipian at 4:02 PM on July 27, 2021 [12 favorites]


Oh god is Black Phillip back?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:17 PM on July 27, 2021 [19 favorites]


even though my guess is the trailer doesn't give much away.

Incorrect! Do not watch if you want the full WTF effect when you see the film.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:24 PM on July 27, 2021 [7 favorites]


Ari Aster's What Fucked-up Shit are the White People Doing This Time?

(to be clear, I love this genre. Midsommar was great and I look forward to this one)
posted by emjaybee at 4:43 PM on July 27, 2021 [6 favorites]


Haven't the foggiest idea what it's about, but the trailer made me think of Little Otik.
posted by 2N2222 at 5:04 PM on July 27, 2021 [3 favorites]


Why the Beach Boys and not Sheep Trick?
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:05 PM on July 27, 2021 [5 favorites]


Is this just a scandi-noir rework of Black Sheep ?
posted by mbo at 5:14 PM on July 27, 2021 [5 favorites]


I will bet anyone that the germ of this was the writer hearing about the custom of bringing orphaned/premature lambs into the house to get warm and bottle-fed. As a boy, I cared for several. From there it's a short leap to "what if it stayed in the house"
posted by Mogur at 5:23 PM on July 27, 2021 [6 favorites]


Somebody's been reading James Dickey
posted by Archer25 at 5:40 PM on July 27, 2021 [3 favorites]


", seems to be about sheep and lambing,"

next week on 'wordshore describes movies',

a seaplane jaunt to an island, with some time in the pub, with dancing in a circle around a nice fire at the end
posted by lalochezia at 6:27 PM on July 27, 2021 [14 favorites]


Well now we know what happens when you live deliciously.
posted by betweenthebars at 7:19 PM on July 27, 2021 [3 favorites]


I take it this is a full-length stop-motion Shaun The Sheep movie, right
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:03 PM on July 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


Oh god is Black Phillip back?

I hope so. I'm 100% here for more butter and dresses.
posted by thivaia at 8:23 PM on July 27, 2021 [4 favorites]


This looks great. I can't decide whether to be annoyed that the trailer appears to give away the plot, satisfied that it gave away enough of the plot to convince me to seek this out, or hopeful that surprises remain.
posted by eotvos at 8:52 PM on July 27, 2021 [1 favorite]


"He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb:
He is meek & he is mild,
He became a little child:
I a child & thou a lamb,
We are called by his name."

-Wm. Blake
posted by clavdivs at 8:56 PM on July 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


Am I the only one who's getting a super-hard Tiffany Aching vibe from this?
posted by sourcequench at 8:58 PM on July 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


This seems like a film made on a dare. "Dude, I bet you can't make a littly baby lamb and object of horror and revulsion."

"Can't I?"
posted by fatbird at 10:08 PM on July 27, 2021


"Here, hold my manchego!"
posted by Ignorantsavage at 10:19 PM on July 27, 2021


SoberHighland: Lighthouse was the last movie I saw in a theater before Covid

Sjón, who co-wrote Lamb, also co-wrote Robert Eggers upcoming film, The Northman.
posted by Kattullus at 10:42 PM on July 27, 2021 [2 favorites]


Mogur: From there it's a short leap to "what if it stayed in the house"

TBF in my experience they often didn't get that they were outside beasties now when they grew up.
posted by Buntix at 6:15 AM on July 28, 2021 [2 favorites]


OK, watched the trailer (even though I know I shouldn't've*) and it kinda looks like (POSSIBLE SPOILERS) they've mashed up elements of Málmhaus, Hrútar and, as above, Black Sheep with a dash of Little Otik.


* Though in my experience Icelandic movies can headfuck you even when you know exactly what's coming.
posted by Buntix at 6:26 AM on July 28, 2021


Do not watch if you want the full WTF effect when you see the film.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 7:24 PM on July 27


Thank you for the heads up. A24 seems to have a direct line to all of my cinematic wants & needs so I plan to watch this movie, and I will steer clear of the trailer despite the (agonizing) temptation.
posted by ZaphodB at 9:22 AM on July 28, 2021


I had already inadvertently read a description of the movie that gave away the whole plot, so I watched the trailer. There's a lot of suggestive stuff, and one brief shot that gives up the game (I was about to say gives up the goat!), so yeah, don't watch if you want to be spoiled (although I would suggest the name itself, and knowing the production company, probably tells you all you need to know to guess what the movie is about).

Like SoberHighland, I didn't think Hereditary was all that great. For the first 2/3 of the film, I was with it as a solid, creepy horror-mystery, but the plot took a weird turn at the end (as anyone who has seen it knows) that felt out-of-place to me, and left me thinking, "Huh, well, I wonder why they went that way with the story" rather than really engaging with it.

Kattullus: Thanks for the link, I hadn't heard about that film. It's sort of fascinating to me that they seem to be playing up the "Viking epic" aspect of it and not mentioning the Shakespeare connection.
posted by Saxon Kane at 10:43 AM on July 28, 2021


Why did this trailer make me weep uncontrollably
posted by pxe2000 at 11:25 AM on July 28, 2021


Saxon Kane: It's sort of fascinating to me that they seem to be playing up the "Viking epic" aspect of it and not mentioning the Shakespeare connection.

I can’t speak for the creators or production company, but the Norse Amlóði stories are sufficiently different from the Hamlet everyone knows to be more confusing than anything else to a modern audience.
posted by Kattullus at 2:27 PM on July 28, 2021


Kattullus: that's true, I just thought they might go with something like, "The dark story behind Shakespeare" just purely for marketing; putting Will's name on something tends to give it a little high culture cachet.
posted by Saxon Kane at 3:03 PM on July 28, 2021 [1 favorite]


From there it's a short leap to "what if it stayed in the house"
Anyone who has played Agricola is familiar with the House Cow.
posted by xedrik at 11:31 AM on July 29, 2021


I'd watch this just for Noomi Rapace.
posted by exlotuseater at 2:11 PM on July 29, 2021


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