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April 9th, 2006 by Cory Mailliard (Permalink)
Director: Jonathan Glazer Year: 2004 Add Comments |
Anchored by a great performance by Ben Kingsley (his last, it would seem), Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast was competent and slickly shot—even if, a few short years later, it hardly registers except for a few iconic moments. Still, it was a flash in the pan at the time. Watch enough movies and you’ll be grateful even for that.
Glazer’s new film, Birth, is an altogether different (and better) beast. It stars Nicole Kidman as widow about to be remarried when a young boy (Cameron Bright) appears in her apartment and claims to be the reincarnation of her dead husband.
I have an affinity for films that take a ludicrous, high-concept premise and choose to stare at it wide-eyed and mine it for real human emotion. Birth pushes all of my buttons and I can say, without reservation, that it has quickly become one of my favorites. With slow, deliberate pacing, it is a quiet rumination on the memories of our loved ones, and how, ultimately, those memories are largely fabrications created for our own peace of mind.
Nicole Kidman turns in a wonderful performance as a woman whose wounds are suddenly and terribly reopened. Her eyes a haze of insanity and wonder as she begins to question whether she is losing her mind, or simply coming to grips with a true miracle.
If Sexy Beast showed us flashes of talent, Birth announces Jonathan Glazer as a director to watch. Though understated, Birth offers a stream of delirious images, peaking with a scene where Glazer holds on a tight close-up of Kidman for a full two minutes as her character desperately tries to find sanity in a suddenly insane situation. The film is amazing visually and emotionally, finding its core in the image of a vaginal tunnel—the site of the husband’s death and rebirth.
Birth is a must own.
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April 9th, 2006 at 10:38 am
Absolutely- I saw this when it came out and was truly bown away but nobody else seemed very interested. I really enjoyed how seriously it took itself- no arched eyebrows and no post-modern nonsense. The closing scene, those final images were insanely powerful- profound and heartbreaking.
April 11th, 2006 at 10:47 am
I’d previously written this off, the over the top drama pertaining to the “bath” incident pushed me away. But it happened to air on TV last night and I am thankful for this review as it coerced me into watching. What stunning cinema.