Ahh, so this is the same director that brought us "The Lobster"; somehow I'm not surprised. I read a few dozen reviews of the movie posted here on IMDb, and of course a lot of them state how absurd the story is. Of those that commented favorably however, they seemed to attach some credibility to the events that occurred in the picture. That's where my criticism of the film actually lies. First off, it's undeniable that the film starts out with an oddly creepy vibe. The relationship between Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) and Martin (Barry Keoghan) is shrouded in some kind of mystery that the viewer is not privy to. My own sense was that there was an aberrant sexual relationship between the two with all the various allusions made by the characters, like meeting in secret and the gifts bestowed on Martin by the esteemed cardiac surgeon.
But when we come to learn that this is a revenge tale on the part of the young teen who's father died on Murphy's operating table, any attempt to decipher reality from what's going on goes astray. The main question one must ask is how Martin was perpetrating the illness that was about to decimate the Murphy family. I came up with two possibilities - poison or voodoo magic. The poison angle was immediately set aside by the various experts called in to diagnose Murphy's son Bob (Sunny Suljic), who was exhibiting the symptoms Martin warned Steven about. As for the voodoo magic, well, I'll let the reader make up his own mind on that.
Perhaps we have to take Martin's own advice at the moment he took a chunk out of his own arm while detained in the Murphy basement. He stated to Steven, "Do you understand? It's metaphorical". Which then puts it in context with the Greek tragedy aspects that other reviewers have commented on of which I have no knowledge. Following a perverse instance of Russian roulette performed by Murphy against the members of his own family, the revenge goal attained, some semblance of normality is restored and the remaining Murphy's are allowed to forge ahead with their existence. The diner scene at the finale offered an opportunity for some sort of confrontation that wasn't going to happen. The trace of a smile by daughter Kim (Raffey Cassidy) appeared to be well out of context with the situation given her willingness to sacrifice herself for the rest of the family.
So what's the message here? Darned if I know and I'll be darned if you know either. I generally go for symbolism in film, but it's tough to find anything of value here. Maybe it is metaphorical, but of what, I really couldn't say.
But when we come to learn that this is a revenge tale on the part of the young teen who's father died on Murphy's operating table, any attempt to decipher reality from what's going on goes astray. The main question one must ask is how Martin was perpetrating the illness that was about to decimate the Murphy family. I came up with two possibilities - poison or voodoo magic. The poison angle was immediately set aside by the various experts called in to diagnose Murphy's son Bob (Sunny Suljic), who was exhibiting the symptoms Martin warned Steven about. As for the voodoo magic, well, I'll let the reader make up his own mind on that.
Perhaps we have to take Martin's own advice at the moment he took a chunk out of his own arm while detained in the Murphy basement. He stated to Steven, "Do you understand? It's metaphorical". Which then puts it in context with the Greek tragedy aspects that other reviewers have commented on of which I have no knowledge. Following a perverse instance of Russian roulette performed by Murphy against the members of his own family, the revenge goal attained, some semblance of normality is restored and the remaining Murphy's are allowed to forge ahead with their existence. The diner scene at the finale offered an opportunity for some sort of confrontation that wasn't going to happen. The trace of a smile by daughter Kim (Raffey Cassidy) appeared to be well out of context with the situation given her willingness to sacrifice herself for the rest of the family.
So what's the message here? Darned if I know and I'll be darned if you know either. I generally go for symbolism in film, but it's tough to find anything of value here. Maybe it is metaphorical, but of what, I really couldn't say.