In this modern age, where more and more human relationships are being facilitated online – apps like Tinder making romance and falling in love almost binary in nature – is it any wonder why we might now feel like we’ve lost just a bit of our collective humanity, and why the whole thing might even be seen as, laughable?

In the new ambiguously titled film “The Lobster,” director Yorgos Lanthimos (“Dogtooth”) sends
up this idea to make a darkly absurd, yet hilarious and thoughtful look at the amount of similarly programmed, artificialized, confining rules and structures that humans have put into place to connect with others. In stretching the joke to its most absurd, silliest places, “The Lobster” makes for a wonderfully stylish satire with its poignancy and lasting punch. For our interview with Lanthimos, visit www.cinemacy.com.

“The Lobster” takes place in a dystopian, near future world, where single people (according to the laws of ‘The City’) are arrested and taken to ‘The Hotel,’ where they must find a romantic partner in forty-five days or else (cue the absurd twist) be turned into an animal and released into the woods (it’s not so cruel – they get to choose which animal they would like to be turned into to live out the rest of their days).

John C. Reilly, Ben Whishaw, and Colin Farrell need to find a mate in “The Lobster.”

In the lead role, Colin Farrell packs on a pudge to play the wireframe-wearing sad sap David (the only named person in the film, the rest of the characters being defined as Nosebleed Woman, Loner Leader’s Father, and so on), who, in the film’s first scene, is seen as just the latest victim of relationship-ending heartbreak. Farrell, pivoting 180 degrees from his macho and hard-boiled character in HBO’s less-than-satisfying second season of “True Detective,” gets laughs right off the bat. Farrell proves, with his bushy mustache groomed over his tight-lipped mouth, that he can do the deadpan comedy in spades.

After seeing David unlucky in love, we are introduced to The Hotel, where David and the rest of the other singles are housed and watched under scrutiny by the staff. It is here where we learn the rules of this world – singles check-in at the front desk, exchange the clothes on their back for navy sport coats and flower-printed dresses, are logged into the system, and learn that they must find, not so much “love,” as a romantic partner, a mate for life, within 45 days.

Understandably, all singles are largely silent and awkward in their behaviors, including Ben Whishaw and John C. Reilly, who attend The Hotel’s hilariously awkward staged talks regarding the dangers of living alone and attending the just-as awkward dances. Singles are also shuttled to the surrounding forest with tranquilizer-loaded hunting rifles, to tag and bag the rogue singles living outside of The City’s laws. Successfully neutralizing a “Loner” will add another day to their stay at The Hotel, upping the chances of finding a mate. It’s a route that leads David to the Loners, including the Short Sighted Woman (Rachel Weisz), a fellow single who lives under the rule of the Loner Leader (Léa Seydoux). The twist here is, even outside of The City’s watch and The Hotel’s confines, living in the forest as a devoted single shares its own equally inhibiting and just as dumb rules. It is here that Lanthimos drives the point home, societal structures that are put in place in the effort to control one’s relationship status is a doomed, fool’s errand.

“The Lobster,” is wildly unexpected, unique, and plays the absurdity of this world with winning deadpan humor throughout. It affirms the reality where people are turned into animals, but even they have boundaries, as a single is wisely advised by a superior that a camel and a hippopotamus wouldn’t end up together, because “That would be absurd… think about it.” The modern age intelligentsia poking fun at the state of human behavior to control nature’s effect in utilitarian effort is entirely Twain-like, and makes for one of the year’s most unforgettable stories.

1 h 58 min. Rated R for sexual content including dialogue, and some violence. Now playing in select theaters, including the ArcLight Hollywood.