Barbarians 2021

“Barbarians” the movie, not to be confused with the “Barbarian” movie or the Barbarians TV series is a title that came from Charles Dorfman as a directorial debut. The narrative follows two couples over 24 hours. Eva and Adam, and Chloe and Lucas share an investment property and Adam’s birthday marks the time that a buyout will occur. The storyline flickers over the friendships, the background of the house, and the internal workings of each of the characters.

Early on Adam is revealed to be distracted by videos of his internet-famous best friend Lucas. The house where the party is being held is referred to as “The Gateway” and Lucas stops to film at a famous stone on the way. The stone is called the Gaeta stone and is revealed to be sacred to locals in the area. What’s more, as Lucas films in front of the Gaeta stone, there is a wake being held.

The wake just happens to be for his former business partner who had recently died. All these small but interesting details reside over a mounting pressure that dwells within the group of friends. There is something amiss. Despite not honing in on specifics, these people all seem to have things that they need to sort out.

Home Invasion Thriller During a Dinner Party

Between Eva and Adam, we are clued into a resentment that seems to revolve around Adam’s unwillingness to step up to the plate. This is something that remains a constant thread through Barbarians. In early scenes, Adam goes jogging and happens upon a dying fox. Despite trying to put it out of its misery, the fox bares its teeth. Adam recoils and begrudgingly leaves it to die in pain. Bizarrely the fox turns up on his kitchen floor panting and dying much to Evas’ shock. However, a worker helping his wife takes over and kills the animal when Adam again fails to do it.

The cinematography in Barbarians held together what is a hit-and-miss film. Everything that happens is seemingly futile when connected with events. Used more as a character study than a story that leads anywhere, in particular, Barbarians forces you through several explosions of violence. Each character builds tension simply by being in the other’s presence. The dinner party itself is left to be the framework that wants to deliver pockets of opinion on their actions as a whole. When the intruders show up mid-course, they ultimately prove to be only a minor distraction to an inevitable outcome.

Is Barbarians the movie worth watching?

The overall success of the film will depend on whether your expectations can absolve a meaningless finale over the pure interest in surveying how as people we can all succumb to cruelty given the appropriate scenario. The Barbarians movie is streaming on several platforms. See below for more direct ways to watch.

The Barbarians movie is rated

3 awkward dinner parties out of 5

Mother of Movies score
Barbarians
Barbarians the movie, courtesy of IFC Midnight 2021

Barbarians Release Date

Barbarians, the movie was made available for streaming on the 4th of April 2020. The title is no longer streaming on HBO.

Directed by Charles Dorfman

The Barbarians movie was provided to Mother of Movies as a screener for review purposes.

Cast: Iwan Rheon (GAME OF THRONES), Tom Cullen (BLACK MIRROR), Catalina Sandino Moreno (CHE), and, Inès Spiridonov (SECTION ZERO.) Connor Swindells (SEX EDUCATION), Tommy McDonnell (STARRED UP), and Will Kemp (REIGN) also star.

Where to Watch

Streaming is free on many platforms. For more direct ways to watch this title, see the links below.

Looking for more movies like Barbarians that include home invasions? Mother of Movies has reviewed these titles to add to your watch list next: Motion Detected | Door Lock | Sunset Superman or Masquerade

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