Lamb

From thequickflickcritic.blogspot.com/

First things first. "Lamb" explores a liaison between a male and a female which is unequivocally inappropriate, unhealthy and unsettling. Not to mention illegal. One half of this couple is a 47-year-old man. The other, an 11-year-old girl. And while the bond forged between them never becomes a sexual one, it is a relationship that categorically made me feel consistently uncomfortable and squeamish.

With personal position firmly established and hardly exclusive, what "Lamb" is ultimately ABOUT is two helplessly lost people consumed in a desperate search for someone who cares. And someone to care for. I definitely can never condone the manner in which this compulsion is consummated here. However, I completely understand this fundamental need burning in us all. This is a film that tests in boldly serious and stark terms our limits of what defines such integral human connection.

Ross Partridge writes, directs and stars as David Lamb, a man so emotionally damaged that he sees a child as the savior of his severely scarred soul. Partridge's role is a massively difficult one to deliver upon effectively, constantly balancing precariously as he must upon the most sensitive of fine lines. His personification of David maintains the essential equilibrium demanded throughout, ultimately delivering as he does so an astonishing performance that is at once loathsome as it is emotionally cataclysmic.

Oona Laurence (Southpaw) is positively transcendent. Appearing to be even younger than she is supposed to be here, Laurence infuses her understandably deeply conflicted character of Tommie with an impressively mature perspective intertwined with a naive innocence. She owns the final moments of this movie. They are powerfully effecting. Expect that they will stay with you, as they surely have done with me.

Partridge vividly conveys the evolution of this peculiar pair's partnership through his wholesale contrast in setting. Beginning with a series of scenes from a dispiriting urban underbelly, the director deftly shifts the environment markedly, transporting us to and among the spectacular wide open spaces of the American western prairie. It is a sense of Shangri-La realized-a blissful place of near perfection for the curious couple. And it is a state of being we all know can not realistically be sustained.

"Lamb" will no doubt meet with controversial reception by audiences and critics alike. Be this as it may, Partridge has succeeded mightily in crafting a motion picture that I believe ascends well above the territory of simple shock value and exploitation. And should you choose to experience his story, and can somehow permit yourself, while certainly to not ignore, but rather interpret beyond the inherently troubling subject matter it examines so unflinchingly, you may find, as did I, that you have been uniquely and richly rewarded.

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Lamb (2015) is a unique indie drama directed, written and produced by Ross Partridge, who also stars in the film. To be completely honest, I think this film is extremely hard to talk about. At points, I found it extremely uncomfortable. But that's the point. Well acted all around. Oona Laurence and Ross Partridge both gave excellent performances. In addition to great performances, the cinematography was also wonderful. This isn't just a cliché indie drama. The film splits off in a different directions, especially with the ending. I found Lamb to be an extremely memorable movie. Really hard to talk about without spoiling anything. Just go watch it. It's worth your time.

"Lamb" (2015 release; 96 min.) brings the story of David Lamb, a guy down on his luck. As the movie opens, we see David visit his sick father and it's not long afterwards that we learn his father has passed away, and on top that David has been kicked out by his wife, and David's boss tells him he needs to take some time off due to his affair with a co-worker. The next day David gets approached in a parking lot by a young lady who wants a cigarette. The two strike up a conversation, and from there a friendship develops. To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this movie is a labor of love from under-the-radar actor Ross Partridge, who also directs and wrote the script (based on the critically well-received debut novel of the same name by Bonnie Nadzam). Partridge navigates the difficult task of portraying a relationship between a middle-aged man and an 11 yr. old girl, both of them two lost souls looking for some redemption, that can be viewed as just a friendship or maybe something more (platonically). It often makes for unsettling watching, and I will admit I came close to walking out of the theater a couple of times. Oona Lawrence, whom we saw not long ago in "Southpaw", shines as the little girl Tommie. Much of this is also a road movie (they are driving to and then back from David's family cabin way out west somewhere). There are some great side performances, including from Jess Weixler as David's co-worker Linny. I very much enjoyed the movie's score, composed by Daniel Belardinelli.

"Lamb" opened out of the blue today on a single screen for all of Greater Cincinnati without any pre-release hype or advertising. The early evening screening where I saw this at turned out to be a private screening: I literally was the only person there. I can't imagine that this movie will play more than one week in the theater, so if you want to check this out, you'll need to get VOD or eventually the DVD release.

David(Ross Partridge) is a forty seven year old man who has just lost his father and divorced his wife and seems on the verge of a nervous break down. After burying his father, he meets an eleven year old girl, Tommie(Oona Laurence) at a parking lot, where, somehow, they connect. Thus begins a strange journey, where the two relate on an emotional level. David takes Tommie on a road trip to a desolate cabin in the mountains while searching for some meaning to his life. Tommie is an outcast with indifferent parents. The writer of the novel, Lamb, Bonnie Nadzam, claims to never have read Lolita, which was also adapted for the screen in 1962 by Stanley Kubrick. The themes are similar, but Lolita's protagonist, played by the precocious and self assured fifteen year old Sue Lyon, is a million miles apart from the innocent eleven year old Oona Laurence. Though at times unsettling, Lamb never veers into Lolita's explicitly sexual territory. Partridge and Laurence are riveting together and I look forward to see what the young actress does next. Lamb is a solid 8/10.

After reading some of the other reviews, it became clear to me that this movie hits a nerve for many. Our reactions are varied and emotional, ranging from disgust, panic and confusion to relief, respect and understanding.

I was intrigued, so I decided to watch it for myself.

A good reviewer will step aside from his own opinions and give the movie a fair shake from an objective point of view.

The real strength of the movie is that it pushes and breaks boundaries, which most of us adhere to. We generally believe that following these laws and moral norms will keep children safe, but the truth is that the world has never been safe. Just by living we all agree to this simple truth: life is dangerous.

The main protagonist, whose life is falling apart and who is slowly losing his grip, meets a young girl who is essentially being raised how he was. He deeply feels that this is a crime and decides that he will develop a relationship with her that, while wildly inappropriate and even illegal and dangerous, is beneficial to them both. As all relationships do, it takes a turn that both frightens and satisfies them, teaching them about love. Ultimately, it seems that they are soul mates who have found each other. The tragedy is that in this world they cannot be together, because in their current circumstances it was not healthy or safe for either of them. Note that the relationship was not sexual, it doesn't have to be.

This movie is well filmed and choreographed. The cinematography is bleak, accompanied by a soundtrack that is mostly atmospheric and moody.. and sometimes scary. All of this is designed to pull you into the hopelessness that both characters feel, while leaving you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next.

The film has two reasonably large flaws in my opinion: the writing and the direction.

The writing was mostly good, but deliberately obtuse. You are not supposed to completely understand what the character of David Lamb is thinking or planning. While we are supposed to think that David and Tommy's relationship develops from a deep understanding, I got the impression that Tommy was confused most of the time. When faced with David's constant deep observations about life, young Tommy seemed honestly dumbstruck. She seemed to take him on faith for most of the film.

As for the direction, the film draws on as a slow burner. What's happening next never seems to be a concern, because honestly it's fairly predictable. Aside from the question of Tommy's safety, there is little conflict to deal with. What really boggled me was the relationship that develops between the two characters. It starts off as a simple friendship, then develops into teacher/student, moves easily into father/daughter, and finally dives headlong into unrequited lovers. If I could complain about anything, I would say that the final relationship did not have enough screen time to be adequately explained. It just seemed to happen in a rush and was confusing to me.

Now then, The rest of my review is my opinion, feel free to read it or not.

Some other reviewers have written this movie off as a simple "defense of pedophilia." I don't see it that way.

I haven't lived long, but I've lived long enough to know that love is an inconsiderate thing. It can happen at the wrong time, in the wrong place, even with the wrong person. To make judgments on any other person's love is an arrogance I personally don't engage in. Can it happen between two people, even if one is a child and the other an adult? Of course it can. I won't say whether or not that love is true, it's not my place. I can only say that it is inappropriate given the circumstances. And when it comes to love, many would say circumstances be damned.

People who believe that love like this cannot exist between the young and old are completely on the wrong side of history. Relationships between very young and very old people have happened time and time again for generations. Our particular norms for the treatment of children are a very recent inventions, while we mostly agree that they are good things, they are not always right in every single case.

Deal with it.