LAMB
by Kathryn Loggins

Sinéad O'Loughlin, Ireland 2022

LAMB is the fifth short film written and directed by Irish filmmaker Sinéad O'Loughlin and it had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in 2022. This tense narrative short thriller follows a woman going about her day in her rural Irish home with her infant child when a stranger unexpectedly steps through her back door. Instead of overreacting and chasing him out of her house, she tries to assess the situation rationally, even offering him tea, which adds to the creeping anxiety emanating from the frame. What truly makes the film sing is how the director creates a true cat-and-mouse game of status and control, as each character moves and talks in slow and deliberate ways, not to escalate the situation. Ultimately all these calculated moves amount to a climax that requires a character to behave rashly in order to change who has the upper hand, which comes as quite a shock after the slow build-up of tension. The ambiguity of the ending is disturbing, but bold, which suits the tone of the film perfectly. (KL)