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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 6 MARCH 2016 36 This Week IN CINEMAS TODAY St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 Met Opera in Cinema – The Magic Flute 14:30 National Theatre Live in Cinema – Les Liaisons Dangereuses 18:30 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Deadpool (15) 10:35, 13:45, 16:10, 18:30, 20:50 Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Road Chip (U) 10:00, 12:10, 14:20, 16:30, 18:40 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (12) 20:50 Point Break (12) 16:00, 18:30, 21:05 Dirty Grandpa (18) 10:20, 12:15, 14:00, 16:20, 18:35, 20:55 The Finest Hours 3D (12) 10:30, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Zoolander 2 (12) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Deadpool (15) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 20:30, 21:15 The Lobster (18) 14:20, 18:10 Zoolander 2 (15) 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:00, 23:15 Dad's Army (PG) 14:05, 16:20, 18:35, 20:55 Point Break (12) 14:05, 16:30, 18:50, 21:10, 23:35 Dirty Grandpa (18) 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:05, 23:25 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (12) 14:15, 18:00, 21:05 A Bigger Splash (15) 14:25, 18:05, 20:45, 23:25 The Finest Hours (12) 14:30, 18:10, 20:55, 23:30 Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Road Chip (U) 14:05, 16:20, 18:30 The 5th Wave (12) 14:30, 18:00, 20:55 The Revenant (15) 21:10 Daddy's Home (12) 14:00, 16:05, 18:10 Do Re Mi Fa (18) 20:45 Trumbo (12) 14:30, 18:05, 21:00 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 The Finest Hours 3D (12) 11:00, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Zoolander 2 (12) 10:45, 13:35, 15:55, 18:10, 20:55 Point Break (12) 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Dad's Army (PG) 10:40, 13:40, 15:55, 18:10, 20:55 Deadpool (15) 10:50, 13:20, 15:40, 18:05, 20:55 Dirty Grandpa (18) 10:40, 13:35, 16:00. 18:15, 21:05 Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Road Chip (U) 10:30, 13:25, 15:45, 18:00, 20:45 SOCIETY has a strange rela- tionship with romantic relation- ships. Evolving historically as either methods of self-preserva- tion and/or bonds to strengthen financial and dynastic security, they now appear to cater to a variety of human needs. That some people still get into relationships or marry for reasons of security – financial, emotional or otherwise – is something of a given, but the spectrum encompassing those things is complex, delicate and touchy. Romantic love that 'transcends' practical consider- ations has been elevated to one of the highest peaks of social ex- pectation. But how genuine is the truism that love is all you need? The first English-language film by the Greek master of the weird, Yorgos Lanthmios, tackles that question with his own brand of strange panache. In a near-future dystopian so- ciety, people are legally required to be in a committed relation- ship by The City. Failing that, they need to reg- ister into The Hotel, where they are encouraged to couple up with either members of the same or the opposite sex – "the bisexual option was discontin- ued due to operational compli- cations" – and to hunt down those who have failed to partner up within forty-five days. The 'loners' are then tranquilised and turned into an animal of their choice. When his partner leaves him for another man, David (Colin Farrell) signs up for a stay in the hotel, along with his brother, who was turned into a dog for not conforming to the City's relationship rules. There he makes a couple of friends, The Limping Man (Ben Whishaw) and The Lisping Man (John C. Reilly) who compete for the af- fections of the females to vary- ing degrees of success, while he rejects the advances of a kindly fellow visitor (Ashley Jensen) in favour of The Heartless Woman (Angeliki Papoulia). But when the mysterious narrator of the story (Rachel Weisz) finally reveals herself, it's also the point in which Da- vid's story takes a different turn. Discovering that the 'loners' are forming their own resistance to the Hotel's authoritarian rule – whose Leader (Lea Seydoux) is as uncompromising in her resistance to coupledom as the City is to the opposite – David finds himself thrown from one oppressive system into another. Lanthmios's two previous films, the disturbing Josef Frit- zl-inspired Dogtooth (2009) and the blisteringly uncanny Alps (2014) – about a team of gymnasts who offer a service that has them 'standing in' for recently deceased loved ones – appear to be both abstract and specific, obliquely picking on a social phenomenon but expand- ing upon it in a neutral space, where characters are deliberate- ly flat, with dialogue to match. They're also as funny as they are dark, and The Lobster, though it boasts a more decorat- ed cast and bigger budget than what Lanthmios is normally used to, is certainly no excep- tion in this regard. Penning the script together with frequent collaborator Efthymis Filip- pou, the film's most delightful surprise is just how many belly laughs it contains. It's an absurd situation that's also strangely recognizable, and the meta- phors and situations can reso- nate as equally hilarious and horrific. The actors all seem to be game, perhaps because they've finally found a film that respects their talents and can coax the best out of them – from pot-bellied Farrell's quiet despair (think Woody Allen put through a Da- vid Lynch wringer) to Weisz's sensitive love interest, who also helps with the humour quotient thanks to her deadpan narra- tion. Though the tempo loses steam somewhat past the halfway mark – with the loner's attack on the Hotel feeling like some- thing of a premature climax – it never feels as though the film has run out of things to say. And though it's unfortunate that animal cruelty often ends up be- ing its go-to effect to ratchet up tension and unforgiving edge, neither does it feel gratuitous or inserted purely for the sake of shock value. We should be grateful for Lan- thmios, because he seeks to tell stories that are both unique and resonantly human – without making a big thing about their supposed universal appeal. As the Oscar contenders have been showing us year in and year out, any film that transcends genre also has to 'sell' its topic really hard: be it slavery, the stock market crash or LGBTIQ nar- ratives. Instead, Lanthmios decides to rip open the truisms and as- sumptions that prop up such a model for big screen drama, and he does it with brutal imagina- tive heft and a strange kind of grace. I can't wait to see what he does next. By Teodor Reljic Love is the law ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ I ADORE YOU ★ ★ ★ ★ I LOVE YOU ★ ★ ★ I LIKE YOU ★ ★ BAD DATE ★ GET AWAY FROM ME FILM Rebellious love: Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz star in one of the weirdest romantic comedies you're likely to see THE LOBSTER (15) ★ ★ ★ ★