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imli - ' . .r ‘ 5 - ~ ‘ " extended tracking shot following the soon-to-be-dead ,... ,. BIRTH . _
. . - .- n - .- . Sean as he logs through a Silent, snow-covered Central ,, . (15) 100mm .000 , . . . -- » ' w : w Park. It s utterly mesmerismg, as IS the close-up on .m» .l" l v' r 2: ~- : Ten years after the death of New York socialite Anna‘s Anna as she sits in a crowded auditorium listening to a -- 'll'll‘ l'. ' z ~ I w r " ‘ .' (Nicole Kidman) husband, a young boy sneaks into her philharmonic orchestra, distracted and pondering "' "ll ‘ qt" - ~ ' : -' family’s uptown apartment and solemnly tells the still whether her husband has come back to her. That single . w 2 grieving widow that he‘s her dead husband. From this head shot and Kidman‘s eyes speak volumes. ; n, In 1: a; .l 1' "f .i it: : l mu: preposterous conceit director Jonathan Glazer crafts 3 In contrast to Glazer‘s first film, the superb, dialogue- .-,irl~ .i l..1i.u:r:~ In I l' : I i' haunting drama that’s slow moving and austere, yet heavy Sexy Beast, the likewise impressive but '1 t - - v i I v N I ' l quite magical in a fairytale sense. By downplaying the dialogue-lite Birth (nevertheless beautifully scripted by
arm. I: I m; 1 9")" t v " potential melodrama and balancing the film with Jean-Claude Carriere and Milo Addica) largely uses l). mi .J.:m ~ w |.-.I It. -"".'.i moments of sly humour (when Anna’s sister gives birth images to tell its story. In that sense, it's a far more :I «i. wuw w. '. u a' .ilw. '. ' to a baby girl, her mother, played with brittle brilliance cinematic film than Glazer’s debut, and while Harris "\‘ulllfi i. -l as. .".i‘ a m w -» by Lauren Bacall, asks, 'ls this Sean, too?’) Glazer Savides‘ elegant photography and Alexandre Desplat‘s snwx- TM- .1'.:- .i. pitches the tone just right, pulling off the enviable trick atmospheric score are good on the eye and ear, Glazer I. :I‘. a; I 'llu :‘:;f "mm-.1: ~ ' .I'u: of making the tall tale wholly believable. avoids the superficial gloss many ad/promo makers mite. ‘ll‘-. ll ‘ll‘ Miss” " Birth, with its suggestion of reincarnation, its tragic such as he succumb to when making movies. Equally I fx‘e > I r. -.; 'I w n:‘:.e= I" '. ‘. female protagonist and sinister urban apartment impressive is Glazer's coaxing of finely tuned
W , g | W r, h building setting, recalls variously such chilling classics performances from the cast - from Kidman and Bacall THE STRiPEs as Vertigo, The Innocents and Rosemary’s Baby (it‘s through Danny Huston as Anna‘s disbelieving new UNDER BLACKPOOL not coincidental that Kidman sports 3 Mia Farrow fiance’ to newcomer Cameron Bright who, as Young LIGHTS crop). But beyond elements of plot, character and Sean, is at once unknowable and full of pathos. (12A) 80mm .g. locale, what Glazer‘s film has most powerfully in (Miles Fielder)
common with those films is the spell it casts over its I 7.5" '. f5 :‘ : :' .' " " ' I v 1' I I' " " "
~\".-" :» .il mrtm .l?i""‘l in 3:1 audience. That begins with the opening sequence, an ' I ' ' « ' 'I '-5
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