Birth

[Mesh]

Excellent 2nd feature.

Glazer reaches for Kubrick and, several times, actually grasps him.  The sets and muted tones were perfect, everything seem to happen in a chilly indoor version of that long, circular opening shot (which was a gorgeous symbol for birth itself and reincarnation).

I knew this movie was brilliant when idiots in my audience laughed at the most awkward scenes.

[picolas]

this is pure garbage so far. the first hour, including the performances, writing, visuals, pacing, editing, music etc. operates on an inhuman, dumb, pretentious logic. this is not the way real people behave. for example, the totally inappropriate laughter and pausing in nearly every scene in the first 20 minutes. also, if i was the reincarnated husband of someone, i wouldn't walk up to them and say "i am your husband." and then stare at them for a long time. pretty much everything every character says is stupid on some level. i feel stupid hearing it. i may write an update when/if i'm finished.

[meatball]

I agree, picolas. Birth is one of the most self conscious films I've ever seen. It's a beauty pageant contestant.

[Stefen]

spoilers

i thought it was very atmospheric, and that gave it a certain charm. I was enjoying it until it turned out it didn't have a supernatural element afterall, then i was let down. It reminds me of Soderberghs Solaris. A film that lets the mood carry it for the first half, and it's really really good. Then it falls apart.

[picolas]

and to the person that said that people don't talk that way. you're exactly right. but people don't talk the way they do in kubrick films either.

but you can understand why the characters are saying what they're saying and the way they're saying it. the dialogue may be a little stylized, but it's still human. it means something.

also, i said people don't behave that way. maybe people have spoken those words somewhere, but they didn't say them like that or under those circumstances because it wouldn't have made any sense.

there are certain things about people and living things in general that you just CANNOT violate if you're trying to tell a (not horrible) story about them. that's what bad movies are, basically: people doing things that don't make any sense.

[modage]

It's an okay movie.  Not great.  I was pretty into it all the way through until well...
Lowlights-
- It all falls on the script, and it's a shame considering the names involved.  The movie really spends a lot of time dealing with everyone's reaction to the kid showing up, rather than the how's or why's of his claim.  That may be fine for a while, but in the end we're left with too many questions, and not enough answers (and not in the good way).
It's not a bad movie... but it COULD have great... *sigh*

yep.  OR i could go for the more extreme review. it was shit. seriously. but i saw it and now i never have to again.

[NEON MERCURY]

i saw this.  the first 3/4's of the film was flawless.  just great atmospheric creepy  shit...well done.  bu tthe end was so fucking dissapointing.  on every level....i was sadly dissapointed.  sort of like th etime when i was a kid and really young i would take showers w/ my daddy.  [in america sometimes kids do this when they is baby's and stuff.  so, if you are reading this please dont think sexually, keep your filthy minds out the gutter]  ...all we would do is my daddy woudl set the water temperature in th eshower b/c i was to young to know when sometrhign was hot.  then he would get my favorite scented shampoo and he would help wash my sticky hair and i could wash th efront of my body but since i couldnt reach my back, my daddy would was it for me!   but [too make a long story short] i would look between my daddy's leg and see a "penis" which i learned about later in life.  my daddy's was big and mine was small   and i was hoping for the day my penis would grow big like my daddy's-but alas, it never did.....so there in lies the dissapointment....

but people should still see this film...

[Brazoliange]

drunk post?

[Sleuth]

NEON, YOU ALWAYS SAY JUST THE RIGHT THING

[Ghostboy]

I find that in the months following the top ten lists I write every year, certain titles that may have fallen lower on the list gradually float to the top while others fade away. Case in point: I don't think much about Million Dollar Baby these days, but Birth continues to get better and better.

Criterion, give this film the release it deserves!

[cron]

i stand by my initial thought that this movie was doomed to be misunderstood.

[picolas]

overrated garbage.

thread rebalanced

[Finn]

overrated garbage.

thread rebalanced

feeling's mutual. it's really not overrated, just on this site

[Stefen]

I really love this movie. I don't care what anyone says.

I love almost everything about it. I love Nicole Kidmans performance, I love the score, I love the pacing, the editing and I love what Glazer is doing with it. The only weak link to me is the boy, but that's overshadowed by Kidman, who is so good in this. Initially, I hated where it went, but that was only because I was expecting something it wasn't, and now I just really see this movie for the great film that it is. If there was ever a film to revisit, this is the one.

[squints]

wow. posting in a thread almost five years to the date since the last time anyone had anything to say about it. guess i've gotta see this movie.