A couple weeks ago, we learned that the horror film Post Mortem had been chosen to represent Hungary in the race to earn the Best International Feature Film nomination at next year’s Oscars. Now it has been announced that Icelandic filmmaker Valdimar Jóhannsson’s debut film Lamb, a strange thriller starring Noomi Rapace, has offically been chosen to represent Iceland in the Best International Feature Film race. Judging by the fact that our own reviewer Gaius Bolling gave the movie a 9/10 review (read it HERE), it sounds like Lamb could definitely be a contender for nomination.
A24 gave Lamb a theatrical release in the United States earlier this month. Winner of the “Prize of Originality” at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the film 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.
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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.
A24 notes that
Lamb is the first film distributed by A24 to be selected as a country’s official entry for Best International Feature Film. Since opening on October 8, 2021, Lamb has spent two weeks in the box office top ten, grossing over $2 million.
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.
I say good luck to both Lamb and Post Mortem at the Oscars, as it would be fun to see a Best International Feature Film category that’s packed with horror and thrillers.
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