A Chat with ’Barbarians’ Charles Dorfman and Iwan Rheon

Writer-director Charles Dorfman’s debut feature Barbarians is an impressive genre fusion brimming with a love for cinema that slyly dares to break a slew of the medium’s established rules. Four friends (are they, though?) gather for a dinner party to celebrate budding filmmaker Adam’s (Iwan Rheon) birthday as well as the purchase of a new home. Adam shares his life with Eva (Catalina Sandino Moreno), a talented artist. Strange events begin to cloud the day. Once property developer Lucas (Tom Cullen) arrives with his girlfriend (Inès Spiridonov), things take a turn for the weird and Neanderthal-ish. After an odd dinner, drinks, and a few too many stunning revelations, the audience is tossed a home invasion curve ball, adding to the intrigue but never betraying the filmmaker’s thematic intentions. Barbarians mixes a slew of genres seamlessly or rather so damned erratically it feels harmonious —certainly to Dorfman’s vision, which includes many homages to Stanley Kubrick (Clockwork Orange, 20