THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER (2017) **

Colin Farrell stars as Dr. Murphy, a heart surgeon who forms a strange bond with an awkward teenager named Martin (Barry Keoghan) whose father died on his operating table.  Dr. Murphy welcomes the boy into his home with open arms and gives him extravagant gifts.  His family also takes to the kid, even if their relationship seems a tad inappropriate.  Soon, Dr. Murphy’s son is struck by an inexplicable bout of psychosomatic paralysis.  As his condition worsens, his daughter is also stricken by the disease.  Are their ailments just unfortunate occurrences, or are they somehow linked to Martin’s presence?   

Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer sort of has a Kubrickian feel.  It’s populated with cold and detached characters, contains a lot of “Eye of God” camerawork, is full of slow zooms, and features a droning soundtrack.  Lanthimos also utilizes odd camera angles during the long tracking shots to put audience in a state of unease. 

The combination of the deliberate pace, aloof characters, and off-putting subject matter eventually take its toll.  While I applaud the director and performers’ commitment to tone, it doesn’t exactly make it a fun ride.  The film is better in the first half when we don’t quite know the score as Lanthimos effectively doles out information sparingly.  However, it’s decidedly less effective once all the cards have been played.  After a long slog, the movie eventually lumbers towards an unfulfilling finale, which isn’t exactly worth the slow burn. 

There are a few bright spots along the way.  I especially liked the bedroom game Farrell and his wife (Nicole Kidman) play.  There’s no explanation or kink-shaming to their little tryst, and I kind of dug that.  It’s Alicia Silverstone (yes, THAT Alicia Silverstone) who steals the movie as Keoghan’s horny mother who has a finger-sucking fetish.  These moments are amusing, but there aren’t enough of them to make The Killing of a Sacred Deer worth sacrificing two hours of your time.