The Killing of a Sacred Deer

Drawing artfully on the mythic fate of Iphigenia, Greek "Weird Wave" director Yorgos Lanthimos creates a chilling, US-set modern fable about a happily married, suburbanite heart surgeon (Colin Farrell) whose friendship with a teenage boy (Barry Keoghan) suddenly and unexpectedly exposes him to a deep-seated, murderous vendetta. As with Lanthimos's previous films, the most famous being his surreal black comedy The Lobster, the mystery percolates for quite some time, its off-kilter yet subtly hypnotic mood made all the more intense as the tension escalates. Mannered and almost puppet-like in the lead, Farrell is a soulful and earnestly engaging presence, but Keoghan is the face to watch, as he slowly peels off the mask of sanity. The scene is set for a warped and thrillingly deranged finale, in which the doctor and his wife (Nicole Kidman) must contemplate making an unthinkable sacrifice in order to save their entire family from certain death.