← Back to Reviews
in
Birth
From 2004, Birth is a dark and pretentious tale that, despite expensive trappings and solid performances, eventually degenerates into an implausible mess of questionable taste.
The film stars Nicole Kidman as Anna, a sophisticated widow who is about get remarried to Joseph (Danny Huston) when a young boy (Cameron Bright) shows up at her engagement party and claims he is Sean, Anna's husband, who died 10 years ago after collapsing in Central Park while jogging.
I really tried to stay invested in this one but director and co-screenwriter Jonathan Glazer, who fared much better with Sexy Beast asks us to accept an awful lot here and makes us wait a long time for questions that never get answered. With stories like this, we always wonder why the alleged reincarnated always take so long to offer irrefutable evidence as to who they are, which the character of Young Sean never really does. I also was confused by the fact that this boy claiming to be Sean only remembered Anna and his brother Clifford (Peter Stormare), but doesn't remember anything or anyone else about his previous life. Just when we're ready to accept the fact that Young Sean isn't going to offer evidence of his claim, we are shocked when Sean decides to take back his life in other ways, which really walk the tightrope of good taste.
As a Kidman fan, I really wanted to like this movie and they really had me until the final third, which made what had come before that completely irrelevant. What kept me watching was the beautifully controlled performances of Kidman and Bright as Young Sean. Bright had previously impressed me as Aaron Eckhart's son in Thank you for Smoking, but he had an opportunity to take center stage here and doesn't shy away from this complex role without ever going over the top.
The supporting cast including Stormare (light years away from his role in Fargo) as Clifford, Allison Elliott as Anna's sister, Lauren Bacall as her mother, and a delightfully unhinged turn from Anne Heche as her sister-in-law almost seem more important than they really are. Glazer employed first rate production values in mounting this tale, including superb Manhattan location photography and some solid editing, but the story just makes it hard to stay with this one. For hardcore Kidman fans only.
From 2004, Birth is a dark and pretentious tale that, despite expensive trappings and solid performances, eventually degenerates into an implausible mess of questionable taste.
The film stars Nicole Kidman as Anna, a sophisticated widow who is about get remarried to Joseph (Danny Huston) when a young boy (Cameron Bright) shows up at her engagement party and claims he is Sean, Anna's husband, who died 10 years ago after collapsing in Central Park while jogging.
I really tried to stay invested in this one but director and co-screenwriter Jonathan Glazer, who fared much better with Sexy Beast asks us to accept an awful lot here and makes us wait a long time for questions that never get answered. With stories like this, we always wonder why the alleged reincarnated always take so long to offer irrefutable evidence as to who they are, which the character of Young Sean never really does. I also was confused by the fact that this boy claiming to be Sean only remembered Anna and his brother Clifford (Peter Stormare), but doesn't remember anything or anyone else about his previous life. Just when we're ready to accept the fact that Young Sean isn't going to offer evidence of his claim, we are shocked when Sean decides to take back his life in other ways, which really walk the tightrope of good taste.
As a Kidman fan, I really wanted to like this movie and they really had me until the final third, which made what had come before that completely irrelevant. What kept me watching was the beautifully controlled performances of Kidman and Bright as Young Sean. Bright had previously impressed me as Aaron Eckhart's son in Thank you for Smoking, but he had an opportunity to take center stage here and doesn't shy away from this complex role without ever going over the top.
The supporting cast including Stormare (light years away from his role in Fargo) as Clifford, Allison Elliott as Anna's sister, Lauren Bacall as her mother, and a delightfully unhinged turn from Anne Heche as her sister-in-law almost seem more important than they really are. Glazer employed first rate production values in mounting this tale, including superb Manhattan location photography and some solid editing, but the story just makes it hard to stay with this one. For hardcore Kidman fans only.