The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

[Leisher]

Just finished watching this one and I don't know if I loved it or hated it.

Doing this review a bit different as I want to get everything off my chest now. Just don't hit the Spoiler buttons until after you've seen the movie.

Colin Farrell is a cardiologist who befriends a young teen, Martin, that shows a great interest in the field after his own father dies on Farrell's operating table. Colin has a perfect life with two perfect kids and a perfect wife in Nicole Kidman. He's wealthy, selfish, and spoiled to a point where he's careless. Martin's relationship with Farrell isn't as harmless as it seems though as he begins to amp up the stakes forcing Colin to make a choice no father/husband should ever have to make.

FYI, it takes 52 minutes to get to the point where the real plot begins. No joke.

Barry Keoghan is Martin and is creepy as fuck, but as perfectly cast as he is,

the shine begins to come off of him because a key plot detail is never revealed or explained. It's a huge, huge thing too, but explainable once you learn this whole story is a re-telling of a Greek tragedy. Point being, that tragedy dealt with "gods", so reality isn't really important here.

Kidman's character is pretty weird too. She shows off everything more than once (Great body to this day.) and seems to perhaps be a message about the weakness of men?

She's in three sex scenes and none are about her pleasure. She even takes up a specific pose in two of them which screams, "Do whatever you want to me. My body is your toy." There's also a scene late with her and Martin that is pretty strange, but furthers the "women are secondary" theory here.

Although, she also displays her own selfishness and weakness as well, and pretty much in the biggest possible way. Additionally, she seems to go back and forth between being a strong independent character and Colin's trophy. Her character arc is strange.

Speaking of sexual things, might as well mention Alicia Silverstone is in the movie as Martin's mother.

She's the poor man's Kidman and makes a play for the better life with Farrell. Again, women are just there to serve men.

There's also Colin's daughter, played by Raffey Cassidy (who looks a lot like Sophie Turner to me),

who further portrays the "women are nothing more than playthings for men" as she's either completely subservient to Colin or Martin

, depending on the scene. Also, I had to confirm with Google that I was right to feel a bit gross about one of her scenes. (Yep. She's either 14 or 15 at the time this was made.) She's not nude and there's no sexual interaction, but still...

It's extremely well shot and the acting is outstanding, but it's very slow. It's also not a feel good movie. Hard to recommend because the story is so out there, but I was entertained.

[TheCatt]

played by Raffey Cassidy (who looks a lot like Sophie Turner to me)

I half expected to see her as a body double for Turner in her credits.