From the critical and commercial fanfare his films generate, it is largely understood that Yorgos Lanthimos is one of the more interesting filmmakers to have emerged out of the new century. A markedly transnational filmmaker, between Dogtooth and The Favourite Lanthimos has managed to traverse the gap between the art-house and mainstream while not once sacrificing his unique style and worldview. His films, while often difficult, showcase his talents as a filmmaker, collaborator, and commentator on the human condition. Accompanied by a trademark acerbic wit, Lanthimos's films take aim at humanity's more contemptible and absurd designs as he explores a thematic preoccupation with, among other things, power, trauma, isolation, sex, and violence.This edited collection covers everything from an early career that was marked by experimentation with a range of different media to international festival hits including Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and the Academy Award-winning "historical" epic The Favourite, Lanthimos's most successful feature to date. All his work demonstrates a fascinating contravention of aesthetic, thematic, and generic boundaries that forms the basis of some of the analyses to be found here. Featuring a roster of talented scholars, both new and established, The Cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos: Films, Form, Philosophy provides a timely compendium of critical approaches to one of the most distinct voices in contemporary film.

Offers case studies and close readings of key aspects of Lanthimos's filmography with a particular emphasis on style

List of IllustrationsNotes on ContributorsAcknowledgementsA Note on Titles1. (A Late) Introduction: Framing Yorgos Lanthimos's Weird WorldsEddie Falvey, Plymouth College of Art, UKPart I: Origins and Identity2. Greek Screen Cultures and the Scopic Regimes of the Long 1990s: Exploring Yorgos Lanthimos's Early WorksAfroditi Nikolaidou, University of Athens, Greece3. The Anti-Foundationalist Cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos: The Case of KinettaVrasidas Karalis, University of Sydney, AustraliaPart II: Experiencing Lanthimos4. On Confinement, Sameness and Grieving: Yorgos Lanthimos's AlpsAsbjørn Grønstad, University of Bergen, Norway5. Bodies Out of Place: Ontological Adriftness in The LobsterIna Karkani, Freie University Berlin, Germany6. Notes toward a Cinema of Apathy in the Films of Yorgos LanthimosEddie Falvey, Plymouth College of Art, UKPart III: Form and Authorship7. Kafkaesque Themes in The LobsterAngelos Koutsourakis, University of Leeds, UK8. Animal Instincts: Fear, Power and Obedience in the Films of Yorgos Lanthimos and Stanley KubrickMichael Lipiner, University of Bangor, UK and Nathan Abrams, University of Bangor, UK9. Consider the Absurd: Uneasy Proximity in Dogtooth, The Lobster, and The Killing of a Sacred DeerNepomuk Zettl, University of Zurich, Switzerland10. Dog, Lobster, Deer, Rabbit: Yorgos Lanthimos's Animal MetaphorsSavina Petkova, King's College London, UKPart IV: Genre and Variation11. Arthouse Thriller: Auteur Meets Genre in The Killing of a Sacred DeerGeoff King, Brunel University, UK12. Myth and Mythopoeia in the Films of Yorgos LanthimosJames J. Clauss, University of Washington, USA13. Rethinking the Heritage Film: Gothic Critique in The FavouriteAlex Lykidis, Montclair State University, USAPart V: Gender, Sex and Sexuality14. Young Women's Deadly Rebellions in the Early Films of Yorgos LanthimosTonia Kazakopoulou, University of Reading, UK15. The 'Weird' Sex Scenes of Yorgos LanthimosAlice Haylett Bryan, King's College London, UK16. The Queer Posthumanism of The LobsterMarios Psaras, University of Cyprus, CyprusYorgos Lanthimos Primary Feature FilmographyIndex