A24 gave Icelandic filmmaker Valdimar Jóhannsson’s debut film Lamb a theatrical release in the United States last Friday, but the film won’t be reaching cinemas in the UK and Ireland until December 10th – so we’ve gotten our hands on a new trailer for the thriller that promotes its UK / Ireland release, and you can watch it in the embed above. Following its December release, Lamb will move to the MUBI streaming service on February 25th.
Winner of the “Prize of Originality” at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Lamb is described as a “darkly compelling fable” that tells the story of
a couple, María and Ingvar, on a remote farm in rural Iceland, who find their quiet existence shaken by the astonishing discovery of a mysterious newborn amongst their sheep. They decide to raise the child as their own, but soon face the consequences of defying the will of nature. An audacious, genre-defying mix of horror and folklore, Lamb is truly like nothing you have ever seen before.
Lamb stars Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, who speaks fluent Icelandic (as well as Danish, Norwegian, English, and of course Swedish). She is joined in the cast by Icelandic actors Hilmir Snaer Gudnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, and Ingvar Sigurdsson.
Jóhannsson wrote the screenplay with Icelandic poet and novelist Sjón, who wrote Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre and worked with The Witch / The Lighthouse director Robert Eggers on the upcoming epic historical thriller The Northman.
Our reviewer Gaius Bolling was blown about by Lamb and gave it a 9/10 review you can read at THIS LINK. While admitting that the film won’t be for everyone, he said that if you give it a chance you will be rewarded with a film that “will challenge you with its storytelling” and “capture you with its cinematic beauty”.