DVD Review: Birth

There's a great scene in Birth where Nicole Kidman's character Anna is sitting at a symphony and director Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast) just keeps the camera on her, letting the audience watch Anna's eyes as she tries to process the ridiculous notion that a 10 year-old boy is the reincarnation of her dead husband. It's a powerful moment in a film that contains layers upon layers of odd metaphysical goings-on. It's just one example of where Glazer and his screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière succeed in evoking the emotional slow burn that Kubrick did so brilliantly. Another aspect I liked about the film is that it didn't feel the need to talk these complicated themes to death. Instead Glazer's film is more an adult fairy tale about endless love with a heartbreakingly ironic coda. The use of a French screen writer and a French composer, Alexandre Desplat, proves that Glazer wanted to make an adult, French-like film – with its long takes of beneath-the-surface action and talky scenes – that teeters on the sexually absurd. The musical score is one of the highlights as the action always moves effortlessly (thanks to the fine editing) with the music. The film looks amazing, too, as DP Harris Savides (Zodiac) paints the film in drab, muted colors and sometimes appropriately drenches his characters in shadows.

Is the film as bad as the reception it received in Venice in 2004 (where it was booed out of the building)? Not at all. Is the film one of the most underrated and misunderstood films of the decade as "The Guardian" claims it is? I guess. It's an underrated film, that's for sure, but I'm not sure underrated is synonymous with brilliant. Given the polarizing reaction towards the film when it was released I would say that I feel a little weird for being so indifferent towards it. The above mentioned successes of the film don't necessarily erase the film's flaws, most glaringly the casting of Cameron Bright as the 10 year-old Sean. His performance is almost as annoying as Haley Joel Osmet's from The Sixth Sense as he mumbles and mopes his way through his lines and struggles to make them not laughable. It's the only part of Glazer's "fairy tale" that I didn't buy. I understand why the director had him deliver his lines that way, as it's appropriate that he sound like he's in a trance of some kind, but I grew tired of it after about 30 minutes. It's something that ruined a lot of the film for me because Sean was such a central part of the story.

Kidman and Danny Houston are perfect in their roles, especially Kidman, who I admit I don't always like. The way she internalizes Anna's emotions is a remarkable piece of acting…especially in the symphony scene, but more so in the scenes where she has to look the 10 year-old in the eyes and pretend she's looking at her dead husband. I thought I was watching a really bad skit at times, but Kidman sold it, and made it worthwhile investing in her character.

Birth is certainly a lot better than the previews made it seem back in 2004 (mostly because they tried to sell it as some kind of weird ghost story), but I don't think it's as good as a lot of people who constructed their end-of-the-decade lists made it out to be. Underrated, sure, but again that doesn't mean it's a masterpiece. There is some impressive filmmaking going on here, and Glazer successfully elicits the kind of Kubrickian mood that he's going for, but I just couldn't buy into the some of the scenes in the middle of the movie. Birth has impressive and powerful bookends – especially the staggeringly great finale on the beach – but its bogged-down middle is something that nearly sinks the film with the poor acting of Bright. That being it was more than worth the 90 minutes (especially thanks to that musical score) and I'm glad I watched the film and took the advice of Tony Dayoub, who listed it on his best of 2004 list, because aesthetically it's about as well executed as a film can be…I just wish I could have bought that story.