Sightlines · reception

How Lamb was received

2021 · Valdimar Jóhannsson · Lamb on Sightlines

The arc

Premiered at Cannes 2021, where it took the Un Certain Regard Prize of Originality, then became a surprise US hit for A24 — the biggest American debut ever for an Icelandic film. The horror crowd lured in by the trailer largely bounced off it; it has since settled comfortably into the 'elevated folk-horror' conversation on its own slow-cinema terms.

What’s debated

The eternal Lamb fight: is it a haunting folk fable or an A24 trailer bait-and-switch — a two-hour mood piece sold as a horror movie?

Its footprint

The reveal at its center became instant meme material online — Ada in her little sweater is one of the most screenshot-ed A24 images of the 2020s, shorthand for the whole 'weird A24 creature movie' genre.

Where it stands

A divisive Letterboxd staple of the folk-horror wave — filed next to The Witch and Midsommar by fans, and next to 'nothing happens' by detractors.

Did you know? Noomi Rapace spent part of her childhood on a farm in Iceland and speaks fluent Icelandic — and the film's executive producer is Hungarian master Béla Tarr, whose Sarajevo film.factory program is where director Valdimar Jóhannsson developed the project.

Named by the director

• Béla Tarr — Jóhannsson developed Lamb under Tarr's mentorship at his film.factory school and has repeatedly credited him as the project's guiding hand; Tarr is credited as executive producer.