The Other Lamb

Grade: C+

Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska has made a film called The Other Lamb. He’d probably like to think it’s a quiet, dark, pensive, brooding, slow-burner, but really it’s a sleepy cinematic experience that is mired in sameness. There’s not much of an arc – it’s a ripple. Even the screams in the film are soft.

The story centers around Selah, a supposed pre-teen who is born into an all-female cult led by a mid-30s man who goes by the name of Shepherd. He looks like a cross between Jesus and Charles Manson. They all live out in the woods in tents and abandoned houses, and if authority figures get too close, they relocate and find another Eden.

There are some disturbing rituals and images that might have had some impact if The Other Lamb had gotten stirred up enough to make waves. The locations are gorgeous, and stunningly filmed. The director and cinematographer know their stuff from a visual standpoint. I think they’d have quite a worthwhile movie in them, if they could learn to take it out of the doldrums. The ending is fairly satisfying. You will feel slightly vindicated as a viewer. But there’s not much of a feeling that a journey has taken place. It doesn’t leave the impression it could have.

Doing a superb job carrying the film is 17-year-old English actress Raffey Cassidy as Selah. Her filmography includes Snow White and the Huntsman, Tomorrowland, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Vox Lux, and Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows. She is one to keep an eye out for. She has wonderful awards and accolades in her future, but not for this.

Grade: C+