Maybe
The Upside **
Lame when it comes to drawing laughs and dull when it tries to be serious, this shoddy remake of the...
A dark, disturbing (and surprisingly funny) nightmare.
Is it worth $10? Yes
Beginning with the lengthy close-up of an actual surgery, “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” doesn’t waste time in making you uncomfortable. A psychological horror film brimming with unease and dread, the film’s soundtrack is comprised of high pitched violins, low throbbing booms, and discordant noises that assault your ears. It all adds up to an unsettling tone long before the film’s actual horror elements kick in. Oh, and it’s also a comedy, a pitch-black comedy.
Colin Farrell stars as Steven Murphy, a cardiothoracic surgeon who’s taken Matthew (Barry Keoghan, recently in “Dunkirk”), a high school student, under his wing for reasons that only become clear as the film progresses. But Matthew is strange-- though, to be fair, everybody in the movie’s weird, Matthew just especially so-- and his increasingly erratic behavior has Steven pulling back on their friendship. Matthew becomes agitated and what happens next is a great hook but might best be left as a surprise. Being vague as possible, it involves the health of Steven’s wife, Anna (Nicole Kidman), their two children, Kim (Raffey Cassidy) and Bob (Sunny Suljic), and an impossible decision Steven may have to make to save (some) of them.
The situations that Lanthimos and co-writer Efthymis Filippou come up with are twisted and jaw dropping in their audacity, especially in the film’s truly cringe worthy last act. I won’t reveal the best bits here either as that would rob them of their impact, but as Steven and his family are plunged deeper into their horrible ordeal, the sharpest, the nastiest humor punctures through the heart of the movie. It provides some relief, but not in a jovial sense. It gives you something to do other than chew your fingernails. You laugh out of pure disbelief, out of self-defense.
If the names Kubrick, Haneke, Lynch got your attention, you will probably enjoy this movie. It is an oddly cathartic experience. Leaving the theater, you’re glad it’s over, but you walk out saying, “WTF was that?” Then you start talking with your friends about WTF that was, laughing incredulously. “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” is unpleasant, yes, but it’s so methodically put together, such an extended piece of pure (strange and unpleasant) mood, I didn’t mind putting myself through it…once, at least.