The Mountain (2018) review

Andy (Tye Sheridan), who works at an ice skating rink, sees his father (Udo Kier) pass away and has a chance encounter with lobotomist Dr. Fiennes (Jeff Goldblum) who hires him to photograph his patients; later on, Andy falls in love with an unstable young woman (Hannah Gross) about to get a chisel in her frontal lobe.  There's a good idea in there about the inhuman treatment of patients way back when and how there are better courses of action to take in cases of mental illness instead of psychosurgery - also how it was performed more on women than men - but Alverson trivializes a very serious topic by approaching it with his own dubious brand of deadpan Absurdism, which involves cutting off scenes before they're 'finished,' having his characters stare blankly and not speak for long stretches of time and, near the end, encouraging Denis Lavant to rant on about hermaphrodites and ... mountains.  We already have Lanthimos trying to make similar pictures, but it's tricky ground to tip-toe around and get 'right.'