Lamb (2015 American film)

Plot

The film opens with David Lamb (Ross Partridge) visiting his sick and dying father Walter Lamb (Ron Burkhardt). After visiting his father, David goes to his motel room, where he is currently living. David's father dies. After attending his father's burial, David ends up in a parking lot "in a particularly depressed-looking corner of Chicago," smoking, where Tommie (Oona Laurence) is sent by her friends to ask David for a cigarette. When asked, David gives her a cigarette, and Tommie shows him her friends. Tommie asks David to scare her friends by pretending to kidnap her. He tries to prove a point to her and brings her home.

Back at David's work his boss, Wilson (Joel Murray) gives David his condolences, and insists that David take some time off work. David runs into Tommie at the parking lot, and offers to buy her lunch. Back at Tommie's home, her mother Linda (Lindsay Pulsipher), and her mother's boyfriend Jesse (Scoot McNairy), ask where she has been. The next day, Tommie and David hang out again; David asks Tommie to go on a camping trip for a week. He tells her he would bring her back before any one would start to worry. At a hotel, David tells Tommie he wants her to think if she really wants to stay, or go back home. He tells her this might look like a kidnapping due to their age differences so she can leave at any time. Tommie decides to stay.

At a truck stop, Melissa (Jennifer Lafleur) sees Tommie crying. Tommie lies and says her name is "Emily." Tommie tells David she wants to go home; he tells her he could take her home, like he said he would earlier. The next day, David and Tommie hang out by a lake. While there at the lake, Foster (Tom Bower), a neighbor of theirs at the cabin, tells the two of them that they are on private property. David tells him he's with his niece Emily aka Tommie. Returning from the mountains, Tommie asks David if she could have a root beer; David asks Tommie to get him a beer; she asks if she can have some of the beer, and he agrees she can have one sip of it. Foster walks into the room, where he sees Tommie holding the beer. David pretends to yell at "Emily" and apologizes to Foster what happened. Foster warns David there are unfriendly neighbors nearby who don't like kids. One morning, David notices a car approaching the cabin; he takes puts Tommie in a closet and tells her not to be seen. The car turns out to be driven by Linny (Jess Weixler) who came to give David company.

David tells Tommie to run to the shop quietly as she can. Later that night, Tommie asks David why Linny called him "David" instead of "Gary". He tells her, it's to "protect her/us". While David is talking to Tommie one morning, Linny walks in, and almost catches Tommie. Linny tells David she's going to get mattresses from the other room; David lies, since Tommie is hiding in that room, by telling her a fake ghost story about "Emily". Tommie is seen running from the cabin, to Foster's house. She approaches the cabin and sees David and Linny having sex. David notices that Tommie is watching. David tells Tommie they are going to head back home. Once they arrive at their hometown, the two emotionally say goodbye.

The film ends with Tommie chasing after David as he drives away.

Production

In July 2014, it was announced that Ross Partridge would be directing, starring, and writing the film, from Bonnie Nadzam's novel Lamb, with Mel Eslyn and Taylor Williams producing, with Jennifer Lafleur co-producing. That same day, it was announced that Oona Laurence had been cast portraying the role of Tommie, and Jess Weixler had also joined the film. Partridge later revealed in an interview with The New York Times he wanted to adapt the film immediately while reading the book.

Filming

Principal photography began on June 19, 2014, in Denver, Colorado, with additional filming taking place in Laramie, Wyoming. Production on the film lasted 18 days and concluded on July 9, 2014. Jennifer Lafleur revealed in an interview that all her scenes in the film were shot in a single day.

The soundtrack for the film, titled Lamb: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, featuring the original score by Daniel Berlardinelli, was released via digital download on January 8, 2016, by MovieScore Media.

Marketing

In November 2015, the first poster for the film was released. In December 2015, the trailer for the film was released exclusively by Apple Trailers. That same month, a clip from the film was released exclusively by Indiewire.com. In January 2016, TheFilmStage.com released another clip from the film.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the SXSW on March 14, 2015. The film went screen at the Sarasota Film Festival, The Montclair Film Festival. The Seattle International Film Festival. and the Torino Film Festival. Shortly after, it was announced The Orchard had acquired distribution rights to the film. The film was released in a limited release on January 8, 2016, prior to being released through video on demand on January 12, 2016.

Critical reception

Lamb received positive reviews from film critics. It holds an 86% "Fresh" rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 64 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Justin Chang of Variety.com gave the film a positive review, writing: "Partridge navigates risky material with assurance, delicacy and a deepening sense of intimacy that can turn, without warning, into complicity: The more at ease we feel in the characters’ company, the more disturbingly questionable the situation becomes. Superbly shot and movingly acted, especially by young Oona Laurence, this arthouse-ready item should prove a potent conversation-starter at festivals, where even naysayers may be hard pressed to deny the film’s cumulative emotional impact."

Kimber Myers of The Playlist on Indiewire.com gave the film a positive review, writing : "What’s interesting about “Lamb” is that it doesn’t stand in judgment of its protagonist; it neither condemns him for what are undeniably bad and illegal choices, nor does it celebrate them either. Though not always successful, this is a complicated film that should cause its audience to continue to think about its characters and the actions they take."