A really strange story unfolds here. I got sucked into it because I had to know what would come of this impossible situation. Dull ending and some slow parts but it's worth a rental.
This is another movie I discovered recently and have seen only once. Once more, it deals with the loss of one's beloved, and how difficult it is to live again without that person. Reincarnation is just a gimmick to explore these feelings, so if you are a Christian, don't shun the movie because of its apparently "new age" premise. You would be missing a very powerful experience.
Anna sufrio la muerte de su esposo al cual amaba profundamente. 10 aņos despues, a punto de casarse con otro hombre, un niņo aparece diciendo que es Sean y trata de impedir la boda entre Anna y su prometido.
Birth es una pelicula que para mucha gente le puede resultar aburrida y para otros, completamente interesante e impecable. A mi me gusto bastante. Esta manejada muy natural... muy cotidiano. Todo es creible y todo te lo quieres comer. Quizas pueda parecer lenta en algunos momentos por tanto silencio, pero si te metes bien en la pelicula, la disfrutas al cien. Sin duda, una de las 5 mejores actuaciones de Nicole Kidman.
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
Didn't like this one, it was a let down I guess I was looking for more to happen. Wish they would have shown her and her husband more like in the beginning so I could become more familar with him being the little boy.
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.
Haunting. Nicole Kidman's performance may be flawless but the Opera scene specifically defines what ACTING is all about. Say what you want about the film, one thing is for sure: it defines ELEGANCE. And finding an elegant film nowadays is almost impossible. That's my theory on why people hated it so much: audiences are not ready for the film equivalent of champagne.
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.
2004, Nicole Kidman as Anna, this story is really both unsettling and absurd, but also a warm movie, it ends with leaving the question: what will happen to her and her closest relations? Also starring Danny Houston, Lauren Bacall, Anne Heche, Cameron Bright, Peter Stormare and others
An extremely good ingredients for becoming even more disturbing movie but unfortunately turned into a quite daunting watch with lots of facial expressions but very little development.
A film that's very easy to admire but difficult to love, Birth 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 The Hours 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.
a very strange film about a grieving widow who believes her husbands spirit has been reincarnated into a little boy =0
a disturbing film! depressing and weird! nicole kidman is yet again awesome! only watch this if u like depressing movies!
(2004 Co-Directors: Glazer, Sadamitzu) This left quite an impression on me. Just stumbled into my local Blockbuster & decided to see Nicole Kidman's latest (about 1 year ago)! WOW!! It was not just Nicole's very very short locks but this amazing child star (that somehow was possessed by the memory of her lost first husband?) Chilling in parts...Lauren Bacall plays an elegant older family member....Nicole's character is engaged
Total disaster. I figured the End in the first five minutes. There was nothing left to see from then till the end. Very bad movie, and very very bad acting
I fell in love with this movie in a morbid way. Nicole is a legend. A specific scene where she's watching a play and she's silently going through an emotional breakdown....absolute stunner act!
This movie earned Nicole a spot in my movie world...all parts were performed to perfection, esp. the little boy...her head was so messed up that he could've hit skins in the bathtub if he were more aggressive and really wanted to.
I dont know what I have with Kidman lately hahaha, but shes becoming in my favourite actress, A tender story, u realize that the true love can last forever.
Amazing, hypnotic movie with another outstanding performance by Nicole Kidman. The theatre scene is breathtaking, even though she doesn't speak a single word. Also, Anne Heche makes me remember that despite any craziness, she's a pretty good actor.
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