Review of Birth (2004) by Tali F — 27 Jan 2008
This film illicits all sorts of reactions. My boyfriend thought it was the worst film imaginable with an utterly disappointing ending. I thought it was provoking and well crafted and a plot that makes you raise your eyebrows and keeps you intrigued until the very last moment.
Couple of reviews on here have mentioned paedophilia but I really don't agree that this film enters into that debate and is more an exploration of an absurd situation that most rational people would decry as exactly that: absurd.
But what if you aren't rational? What if your emotions and feelings for your dead husband get in the way of thinking logically? What then? What happens to the people around you? How do you react? Cameron Bright is magnetisingly mature in his decisions and convincingly un-child like and Anna slowly devolves from a mature adult to her final suggestions of "we're going to run away together" and flits off into child-like fantasies of the future.
The music is fabulous and haunting and eerie - perfect for the occasion, and the sets manage to make the Upper East Side of New York look stifling and devoid of warmth with all their earnest understated elegance (never realised how many shades of beige existed.
) There is a good balance of plot and character with both absorbing me into the film. I was at a loss as to how to predict the ending and the final unravelling is unexpected and yet strangely obvious at the same time.
A film all about plausibility and the battle between rational and irrational reactions, Johnathan Glazer slips in a small gem of a film.
This review of Birth (2004) was written by Tali F on 27 Jan 2008.
Birth has generally received mixed reviews.
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