Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Jim Weir, Jack Clark
Starring: Shabana Azeez, Mackenzie Fearnley, Ben Hunter, Jack Bannister, Clementine
Anderson, Alfie Gledhill, Harley Wilson
I'm not privy to the ages of the Australian filmmaking duo of
Jack Clark and Jim Weir, but their debut feature
Birdeater simultaneously plays like the work of experienced
old heads who have seen a lot of life and that of immature film school
graduates determined to distinguish themselves with distracting and gimmicky
visuals. While the latter at times reaches obnoxious levels, it's not enough
to take away from what is one of the most distinctive dissections of toxic
relationships to arrive on screens in some time.
The screens Birdeater is initially arriving on are those of
the horror film festival circuit, which is highly misleading. Far from
Ozploitation, Birdeater is more akin to a millennial
descendant of the dark Australian dramas of Ray Lawrence (Lantana; Jindabyne) with its eruption of secrets held from loved ones and friends.
Stag parties (Or "buck's parties" as they're known in Australia) rarely end
well, usually with a lot of sore heads, regrets and someone left tied naked
to a lamp post. The only thing dumber than embarking on a stag party is to
invite the bride-to-be along. That's the amateur hour mistake made
by Louie (Mackenzie Fearnley), who insists on pressing ahead
with his stag party even though his English fiancée Irene (Shabana Azeez) has been displaying cold feet regarding their marriage plans. As Irene
suffers from intense separation anxiety to the point that she has to take a
tranquilser every time Louie leaves her side for a prolonged period, Louie
decides to invite her along to the party.
Louie's second mistake is to hold said party at a cabin in the remote
woods. There the couple are joined by a bunch of Louie's friends. The nerdy
Murph (Alfie Gledhill) is a collaborator in some ambiguous plan Louie
has concocted. Hellraiser Dylan (Ben Hunter) has a pocketful of
Ketamine and a head full of bad ideas. Bisexual libertine Sam (Harley Wilson) may or may not have some sexual history with Irene. Charlie (Jack Bannister) has brought along his uptight Christian girlfriend Grace (Clementine Anderson).
Birdeater spends its first act struggling to establish its
tone. Thanks to some intensely annoying editing it's almost headache
inducing, and there are some bizarrely staged character interactions that
will have you waiting for punchlines that never arrive. The sound mix,
dominated by a combination of needle drops and an original chiptunes
flavoured score by Andreas Dominguez, often renders the dialogue unintelligible. To
suggest your patience may be tested is an understatement.
But stick through this initial period and you'll be richly rewarded once
the film settles down. After the initial bout of drinking and dumb party
games, the attendees gather for an increasingly uncomfortable dinner.
Dylan sets the tone with a roast speech designed to rattle Louie's
feathers. When Louie refuses to see the funny side, Dylan wanders off
script and makes some damning accusations regarding Louie's initial
courtship of Irene. With bellies full of beer and synapses sparking with
Ketamine, those gathered around the table take turns to reveal secrets and
make ambiguous accusations. The true nature of everything implied is held
back from the viewer until a final act flashback adds some vital
context.
Birdeater is a damning indictment of how young men behave
in each other's company, and of how they can manipulate young women, but
it's not simply a case of one -sided man-bashing. Louie's unsettling
treatment of Irene, whom he has all but zombified, is mirrored by how
Charlie has given up his own personality to fit in with Grace's Christian
beliefs. The film takes a rather cynical view of relationships, suggesting
that they so often rely on one half becoming subservient to the
other.
As the film progresses we begin to be seduced by its previously
irritating rhythms, as though we too have popped some pills and they're
only now taking effect. The flashy visuals of the first act find their
footing in the final act, with a bravura sequence that beat matches images
and sound to take us from the present day to a fraught flashback, and a
nightmarish scene involving a middle-aged stripper that wouldn't be out of
place in a David Lynch movie.
Australian dramas have often tended towards the cynical, leaving their
characters in a worse state than when we found them. That's not quite the
case here. Louie, Irene et al were in a doomed place to begin with; it's
only by the end of the film that we realise just how bad things really
are. Many viewers will be turned off by Birdeater's coked up visual hysterics, which is a shame as this is a car crash
that reveals its true horrors when the storytelling slows down to observe
its casualties.
Birdeater plays at
The Overlook Film Festival
from April 5th.
