Birthday
Girl seems to have split alot of critics right down the middle and quite honestly
I’d like to take the critics who went thumbs down on this quirky gem and
split them down the middle with an ax. I really can’t understand how any
self-respecting critic can look at this unusual, tragic and tender little film
and not fall in love with it.
Ben
Chaplin plays a lonely Bank executive whose love life is bleak enough to the point
where he becomes obsessed with ordering a Russian bride via the internet. He lives
in a secluded countryside region 40 miles from London, has no friends and when
Nadia (Nicole Kidman) arrives his life is soon turned upside down. First of all
Nadia does not speak English, which Chaplin was assured she did and during this
dialogue-free period acquaintance, Kidman does some of the best acting of her
career. A performance that I would rank as her second best next to The Hours.
As
it turns out Chaplin has a few secrets (he is interested in certain kinky sexual
proclivities, which Nadia discovers during a snoop and happily indulges him in
at her first opportunity). This is a very adult film, with a good bit of nudity
and sexual content and certainly a brave performance on Kidman’s part. And
as for Chaplin his turn is restrained and deadpan, and it’s surprising we
don’t see more of him.
Now,
this comprises about the first third of the movie. To tell you a single thing
about the remainder would be an unforgivable spoiler and since I highly recommend
this film I’m keeping it to myself. I will say that things take a strange
turn, and that it becomes a rather exciting thriller, and above all a skewed and
brilliantly rendered love story.
To
be fair to the soul-less creeps who didn't like this film, there is one slight
lapse of plausibility and I will admit that one major part of the plot was quite
predictable. But screw those fools who didn't like it - they wouldn't know cinematic
art from the Cat in the Hat. Go see Birthday Girl, go rent it, this is a wonderfully
rewarding film that deserves to be seen and enjoyed.
