Lamb

source: Lamb

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.

Another film lost in the pile. Yes the plot is morally questionable given the kidnapping of an 11 year old girl...but it's a great film. I wish people were smarter and can see into the reasoning behind everything the main characters do. It's not about sex or pedophilia, it's about people that are lost. This is a very very sensitive subject, and to make a film about a child kidnapping and have the narrative go the way it goes does makes u think. It's disturbing and fascinating at the same time. Watch it. If u like films that make u think :)

I don't even know what to think about this movie, but I bet its going to be very big in pedophile circles. Its about a 47 yr old lonely guy who meets/befriends an 11 year old (whose parent is nowhere ever) that comes up to him at a truck stop in heels asking for a cigarette & then takes her on a trip with him. He urges her to lie to anyone they meet about who she is and their relationship. She asks to both call home and go home to which he refuses stating that would get her in more trouble. Then after being around this guy for a week and he doesn't molest or murder her she decides she's in love with him, further showing she is too young for even a friendship with this man. Yes the acting is flawless, superb. It is an absolute beautifully made movie. But their is beauty in illusion. I get that these two characters are lost/lonely and the girl is both abused & starving for affection and you can argue all day that this is a beautiful movie about friendship, but this movie is completely & utterly socially irresponsible!!! I believe this movie is an attempt to start controversy and make the audience think that this is such art that this situation could be appropriate if it was handled as delicately. NO. See it for what it is. It is a grown man trying to make friends with a child, not a girlfriends daughter, not a niece, a separate child. Deplorable.

I'm writing this as I'm watching this movie. I'm only 30 minutes into this film and I'm already immensely disturbed. This movie is trying to make the viewer like this 47 year old man who is trying to seduce an 11 year old girl! WTF! I like Tommy. She's a bright kid who doesn't get any attention from her parents and her "friends" are assholes. She is somewhat more mature than most 11 year old but she definitely looks younger than 11 (like 9) and has a naive nature, as she should, about Gary's intentions. Why would someone make this film unless they have the same sick desires as Gary? The acting was superb. I understand why Tommy was intrigued with Gary, she's a little girl starving for attention. This is type of movie that sickos watch and cheer for Gary to succeed with his sick perversion. If you watch this film at the theater make sure you look around and observe the men in the audience, especially the one's sitting alone. I'm sure Woody Allen loved this movie. I don't know if I can stomach the rest of this movie. I will probably cut it off before the ending. OK now she seems like she wants to go home and he is pressing her to stay. She looks scared. Uhg!

Masterful. I loved this film. The best part is reading the equivocating, hesitant reviews after watching the film. This is a Rorschach test! This film holds up a mirror to us and what we see isn't pretty. Consider the facts: Fact one - from the start, David Lamb is a liar. Ross Partridge, the director/actor, makes that clear. David's wife has had enough and we don't even see her. David starts the film lying to his girlfriend about where he is. And David has been lying to everyone at work about a prohibited liaison with a subordinate. Fact two – Partridge has carefully chosen the two female leads to be similar in demeanor and appearance. Why? To pose a question – why does David prefer one to the other? Both care about him, listen to him even dote over him. And, most importantly, one is a grown woman who willingly satisfies his carnal desires. And finally, fact three – the film documents a rape. Forget the lush fields, mountains and horses and forget about the fact that he never "penetrates" her, you know in today's political parlance, "rape, rape." Tommie a neglected, perhaps abused child is by the end of the film a woman. You know, in other words, he raped her. That is why David preferred her to the adult woman – Tommie was a virgin.

The camera did a good job, the pace of the story is fine, the actors did well (thumb up to Oona Laurence), the soundtrack is nice, yet just a 4!? I simply couldn't connect to the story. I never got what the story is really about and many of the male leads dialogue was just felling to me like they are copied from a esoteric life-coaching book or some kind of poetry from the bargain bin. Also the intentional motivation for Lamb to take the kid on a trip wasn't convincing to me. You are in a midlife-crisis and then you "kidnap" a young kid!? Seriously!? Maybe I'm not romantic enough for that kind of movie. Anyway, you may give Lamb a try, there is certainly far more bad stuff around you can waste your time on.

A movie both unsettling and sweet in nature. I remember as a child wanting with all the fibres of my being to have something like this happen to me. The adult portrayal in the film was great, he never crossed any physical boundaries but of course, the unsettling part being he may have skipped into some strange and not so authoritative-figure-like behavior emotionally and mentally. I saw it as a man desperate to make a difference in someones life that was a positive effect rather than negative, and knowing what girls grow up to encounter, wanted to give her some space and perspective and something else to hope for in life. Of course, being 11, she falls in love, and fortunately that's where dude stops things, leaving her depressed and brokenhearted, but its for her own good of course. I have mixed feelings about this movie. parts of me are guarded and want to protect the child, but the child part of me sees it as a romantic love tragedy.

LAMB is set in the Midwest and its conventions. A middle aged man, beset by adult challenges including the death of a parent, work and crumbling relationships, encounters a young girl whose home has provided no identity or value. The two go on a road trip deeper into the heart of the country and into unexpected inner places. LAMB is risky and challenging exploration of love, our need for it, the unusual places where we find it and the sacrifices it calls for. Oona Laurence as the young girl is superb and deserves consideration for a Best Actress award. The cinematography is evocative. Ross Partridge is to be commended for his integrity, courage and skill in bringing this story to the screen.

My most honest feeling while watching this movie was apprehension and the second one was discomfort. The movie naturally provokes an inevitable sense of morality on the viewer because what was supposed to be an unlikely and harmless relationship has turned into something else entirely. There is no doubt that the message is not intended or implied to express sexual connotation but at a certain point, when things really starts to get tough and conflicts come up in an unforeseen manner, the situation opens an opportunity for even more prejudice. A mix of feelings like love, jealousy and even anger portrays a limitless scenario to escalate things up who knows to what next level. In my point of view the movie can be summarized roughly as follows: Middle-aged man bogged down in midlife crisis affects considerably childhood from an 11-year-old-girl.