Birth (2004)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Anatoliy D

  
  wts

• Anthony L

  
  Creepy and disturbing and without any real conclusion. A disappointing film to be honest as I?ve been looking forward to watching this for a while. Still, Glazer's direction is faultless and every shot looks like a painting, it?s a shame then that the rest of the film spends less… More
  Creepy and disturbing and without any real conclusion. A disappointing film to be honest as I?ve been looking forward to watching this for a while. Still, Glazer's direction is faultless and every shot looks like a painting, it?s a shame then that the rest of the film spends less time on the details and a great cast is left dangling not really knowing what to do with themselves. The soundtrack also made me feel a bit sick! I?ve given it an extra star for balls!

• Film C

  
  It bored me really and i didnt finish it, it just was slow and boring

• Candy R

  
  Anna is a widow who is about to re-marry when a young boy claims to be her husband reincarnated. Some inappropriate scenes.

• Jens S

  
  The premise of this mystery drama is actually rather interesting: a jogger dies, a baby is born. Ten years later that baby is confronting the jogger's widow who is about to get married again, claiming to be her dead husband. Kidman, proofing once again that she is looking good in… More
  The premise of this mystery drama is actually rather interesting: a jogger dies, a baby is born. Ten years later that baby is confronting the jogger's widow who is about to get married again, claiming to be her dead husband. Kidman, proofing once again that she is looking good in any hairdo, gives a great performance. So does Anne Heche, whose character plays a big part in the mystery. The intentionally dismal look and hypnotic soundtrack make for an unsettling atmosphere. Sadly, the movie is falling to pieces when the solution is presented way too early and has nothing to add after that. It's merely a drama about grieve in the end, and not a really good one either.

• Leigh R

  
  Odd, yet appealing.

• Arash X

  
  I think the main storyline is good but the movie fails miserably, I think the main promblem is the characterization of the child, The way Anna believes that he's Sean and falls in love with him again,the whole thing is not convincing and this is just the main problem IMO

• Curtis L

  
  Nicole Kidman really crossed the line with this one. I thought fur was bad, but in this one she practically screws a 10 year old boy. It's a neat story idea, but prepare for uncomfortable scenes to watch with the whole family.

• Drew S

  
  Birth is a few decent ideas loaded in a mire of pretentious twaddle and coated up all austere and stately to make it seem like there's art to be found. You wanna throw around your pseudo-intellectual weight? Try defending this hatefully arrogant piece of trash. Everyone bitched… More
  Birth is a few decent ideas loaded in a mire of pretentious twaddle and coated up all austere and stately to make it seem like there's art to be found. You wanna throw around your pseudo-intellectual weight? Try defending this hatefully arrogant piece of trash. Everyone bitched about this movie being CHILD PORN because Cameron Bright hopped in the bathtub with a woman three times his age, but what's really offensive about Birth is how awesome it thinks it is. I think the only thing I took away from this movie is the knowledge that Anne Heche can actually act if she feels like it. I already knew Nicole Kidman could, and this movie is basically just one gigantic stage for her to heave around her dramatics. That two minute shot of her face at the theater? There's a point where "look at the slowly degenerating emotional state of this woman" becomes "look at how well Nicole Kidman can subtly fluctuate her facial expressions" and this movie crosses it with splendid ignorance. And far be it from me to defend Crazy Almost Lesbian, but she's always the most watchable character on screen - for the love of God, she has energy! A personality, even! They are diamonds in the mound of placenta that is Birth. Wow, and is Cameron Bright bad. Sure, he plays his character okay, but it is ONE FACIAL EXPRESSION. ONE VOICE. The entire way through. He's in nearly every scene in the movie and he can't be arsed to add inflection or a eyebrow twitch or anything! Fucking hell. I could have given a better performance than that at 10. I hate Danny Huston in everything he's in so that's no big surprise; check him out in the scene where he goes after Sean. It provoked the strongest emotion I felt throughout the span of the movie...rollicking laughter. "He kicked my chair!!" Lauren Bacall manages to squeeze a tiny bit of character in the movie as well, but she is no more interesting than the rest of the yuppie saps on display. If you haven't picked it up already, my primary gripe with Birth is that it has confused artistic vision with utter sterilization. There's scarcely a drop of humanity to be found amidst the snowy landscapes and the oppressively beige color scheme. Stuffed with soft, lingering shots of Nicole Kidman silhouetted against city landscapes, it's obvious that Birth aspires to be "art". It's all well and good to have a pretty-looking movie, but Birth stops offering anything visually new within the first half hour; even in this department it fails. The music is another bid at adding class to this lame affair, but it's often out of place and feels just as pretentious as the rest of the movie. In its attempts to find this "art", it downplays its narrative to the point of minimalism. Not to knock on minimalism, but this movie's not having it. The premise is undeniably intriguing and unique, offering a trove of opportunities for characterization and drama. But why didn't Jonathan Glazer run with it all the way? He pussied out, to put it as clearly as possible without spoilers. Birth turns into a laughable episode of Scooby Doo within the final fifteen minutes, and despite Kidman's efforts to add dramatic validity to the proceedings, it is really laughable. No matter how hard she showboats, you just can't buy into this movie. It doesn't let you. There's no human angle, just walls upon walls of stifling faux-art tripe and manufactured restraint. I guess it's not really fair to say that there's no human angle, because the concept in itself is as human as you can get. It is then a testament to how bad Glazer fucked this one up that the warmth and pathos are sucked completely dry. For all the hullabaloo that surrounded this movie upon its release, it really should have been good enough to warrant it.

• Michael S

  
  Very uncomfortable to sit through.

• Tim S

  
  Glazer should be the highest paid director out there right now.

• Lafe F

  
  Weird movie about a boy who claims to be Nicole Kidman's deceased husband. It's a bit creepy and confusing what is happening. The ending offers a possible explanation, but it leaves it open to questions.

• Adam M

  
  co-written by Bunuel's screenwriter; it's a sort of a dark comedy in regards to the huge age difference, and a drama about when we're sure we're not living the right life

• Gordon A

  
  Chilly psycho-drama.Jonathan 'Sexy Beast' Glazer tackles grief with a sympathetic attitude to the possibility of reincarnation. Mixed in with this are themes of enduring love and child psychosis - not a laugh a minute then, and your enjoyment will depend on whether you buy… More
  Chilly psycho-drama.Jonathan 'Sexy Beast' Glazer tackles grief with a sympathetic attitude to the possibility of reincarnation. Mixed in with this are themes of enduring love and child psychosis - not a laugh a minute then, and your enjoyment will depend on whether you buy Miss Kidman's changes of heart. The twist/explanation also falls flat and rather spoils the air of mystery created early on by the excellent young actor Cameron Bright and an eerie score.

• Dean M

  
  The sense of sadness is palpable, thanks to Nicole Kidman, although the bath scene is still offensive.

• Sanjaya &

  
  Actually, this movie isn't that bad. But, seeing Nicole in short hair and have an affair with a 10 years old boy is so disgusting! Even I am one of her fans...

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]"Birth" is about Anna(Nicole Kidman) who has just gotten engaged to Joseph(Danny Huston), ten years after having been widowed. A ten year old boy, Sean, has just made his presence known and claims to be Anna's deceased husband.[/font] [font=Century… More
  [font=Century Gothic]"Birth" is about Anna(Nicole Kidman) who has just gotten engaged to Joseph(Danny Huston), ten years after having been widowed. A ten year old boy, Sean, has just made his presence known and claims to be Anna's deceased husband.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Birth" is a rather strange movie in that it lacks any conviction at all. As a provocation, it fails. It's not much of a romance either and we never get any sense as to what Anna's first husband may have been like before he died. The film is desperately in need of a sense of humor because the central premise is not believable.(Yes, there is an explanation, and no it does not make any sense.) It also feels more like a film set in the 19th than the 21st century - the movie is populated with characters who are wealthy yet without a visible means of support; all of the couples look mismatched and here marriage seems like a sentence without a chance for parole. And Nicole Kidman gives yet another flat performance.[/font]

• Alec B

  
  It's not that I found the material tasteless, I thought it was stupid. The film is beyond pretentious and it doesn't earn it. Just because you make a film in the "arthouse" style doesn't make it good. Its not the actors fault, they tried. Director Jonathan… More
  It's not that I found the material tasteless, I thought it was stupid. The film is beyond pretentious and it doesn't earn it. Just because you make a film in the "arthouse" style doesn't make it good. Its not the actors fault, they tried. Director Jonathan Glazer wanted his film to be a masterpiece so bad he forgot that you have to have make a good movie and not just make it look like a good movie.

• Daniel P

  
  A film that's very easy to admire but difficult to love, <i>Birth</i> has an excellent cast, an interesting director, an eerie music score and sometimes beautiful photography. But its 'ghostly' feel has the effect, on me anyway, of not being able to engage… More
  A film that's very easy to admire but difficult to love, <i>Birth</i> has an excellent cast, an interesting director, an eerie music score and sometimes beautiful photography. But its 'ghostly' feel has the effect, on me anyway, of not being able to engage with the story and, in all honesty, become invested with the character's plight (despite an exceptional, unshowy performance from Nicole Kidman). The semi-'ambiguousness' of the truth about 'Sean' is nicely done, as is the rather fantastically downbeat realisation that dawns on Anna at the beach (echoes of Kidman's work in <i>The Hours</i> at one point). So, I admired the film, appreciated that it was doing something different, thought the acting was stellar (Anne Heche is especially, and surprisingly, good in a small but important role) and the direction assured, but basically left the film feeling unmoved. Worth a watch though.

• Brian R

  
  The very first scene (A flashback) shows a a man running through Central Park, New York who dies of a heartattack. Who is this person? Jump to the present and a woman is seen standing at a gravesite in mourning. The woman's name is Anna played by Nicole Kidman. Her husband, the… More
  The very first scene (A flashback) shows a a man running through Central Park, New York who dies of a heartattack. Who is this person? Jump to the present and a woman is seen standing at a gravesite in mourning. The woman's name is Anna played by Nicole Kidman. Her husband, the one who died at Central Park, is Sean. Anna is going to be married to another man and yet there is a third character, a child actually who claims he is Anna's first husband Sean. The child is also named Sean (Cameron Bright) shows up at Anna's house unexpectedly and breaks out the news. Anna at first doesn't believe him but later does when the young Sean collapses. "Birth" is an intelligent and intriguing picture. I am not sure if the film wants the audience to believe in reincarnations and such but does so with maturity. The performances is all first rate from Nicole Kidman (her best since Eyes Wide Shut), Danny Houston, Lauren Becall, and Cameron Bright. The director Jonathan Glazer uses tight close-ups and slow dolly shots for the audience to get into the minds of Anna and the young Sean. The look of the film is done beautifully and yet quietly creepy by Harris Savides. The interiors is posh and wealthy (something i'm not even accustomed too) but with every wealthy interior lies dread or gloom. Im puzzled why a lot of people didn't like this? Maybe they just don't like dark pictures that carry some sort of spiritual texture?

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