The Duel and Lamb

Based on an actual 14th-century event, Ridley Scott's "The Last Duel" is a brooding medieval saga about the trial that ensues after a woman allegedly has been raped. In this podcast episode, HCC film professors Marie Westhaver and Mike Giuliano agree that the director has a strong sense of production design and atmosphere,  However, they also agree that the film's "Rashomon"-style structure, in which we see the central action from several different points of view, does not work here. Rather than bringing out any real ambiguity in the trial testimony, this narrative strategy just seems redundant. The movie stars Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck. Marie and Mike also discuss a very unusual movie from Iceland, "Lamb," in which a childless couple living on a farm essentially adopt a half-human, half-lamb baby born to a ewe. Playing like a horror-tinged folk tale, "Lamb" holds your interest as it unfolds against an austerely beautiful landscape.