Birthday (I) (2015) User Reviews

Exceptional

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 26 October 2015]

I just saw "Birthday" at a film festival a few days ago. I was very impressed by the film because of its simplicity as well as its unflinching look at a couple and how they both deal with his life- changing injuries.

When the film begins, you can see a young lady Skyping with her fiancé. He's a soldier in Afghanistan and his tour of duty have almost expired. However, in a gut-wrenching scene, the man is blown up by a land mine but somehow survives. But he's now missing his legs and an arm and must use hearing aids. Through the rest of this film, using a montage they show this couple reunite, celebrate the belated birthday, marry and carry on their lives together. While it's rather short in story, writer/director Chris King does a great job of putting the story across and it packs a huge emotional wallop. Well made yet simple...and a very nice tribute to men who have sacrificed to serve their countries.

the struggles personified

[ferguson-6 · 8/10 · 22 November 2016]

Greetings again from the darkness. A necessity for short films is to be able to connect with viewers almost immediately. Filmmaker Chris King does just that as we are plopped right in on a FaceTime session between a soldier and his wife. We quickly learn he's only 43 days from returning home, and their pure love for each other is obvious.

What follows is the first of two montage sequences that constitute the bulk of the movie. The first bounces back and forth between the soldier sweeping for mines and his wife teaching school. One wrong step has him being carted off by fellow soldiers and the wife's reaction at being told of his situation.

The second montage takes us through his surgery, rehabilitation and the couple working to live their lives together and maintain their love. The montage approach works here because it allows us to see, in brief flashes, how the stories progress and how the wife and Marine/husband deal with the challenges.

Crucial to the effectiveness of this short are the performances of Chris Gouchoe as the soldier, and especially Mandy Moody as his wife. With minimal dialogue, she expresses joy (the FaceTime segment), shock (when told), sadness (reality hits), determination (she carries him piggyback), and pride (the final scene). Additionally, we never doubt their love for each other and the wide range of emotions is beautiful to behold.

Rather than making a political statement or being presented as an anti-war protest, the film is a straight-forward reminder of what so many families and soldiers go through after the war. All injuries might not be as severe as those of this particular Marine, but the obstacles are both physical and psychological for all involved. The fact that this one plays so much like a documentary speaks to the strength of the actors and the talent of the filmmakers.

Speaks loudest when it is silent – surprisingly moving but yet not sentimental

[bob the moo · 26 May 2015]

With sparse dialogue, this film charts the medium-term life of a young couple whose lives change dramatically when the husband is badly wounded while serving overseas with the marines. With hearing, both legs, and one arm lost to an IAD, many months of rehab and readjustment lie ahead. With such a subject, and with this being an American film, you would be forgiven for expecting this to be a rather overblown emotional affair; it is a comment pitfall, perhaps fuelled by the meaningless "support the troops" propaganda combined with the guilt that often "support" is lacking when it comes to them returning home – leading to such subjects being rather forcefully delivered since they carry a much needed and important message. However Birthday is better than that, delivering in a much more controlled manner.

This is not to say it is not moving, because it is, but it is much more focused and folded in, and less about big emotional scenes, flag-waving, or point-making. Instead it is about the wife and the marine (we never are told their names), and the impact on them – but particularly on her. The majority of the film plays out under typically ambient but emotive music from Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi and his partner Alex. This music sets the tone well, creating a sense of emotion but never spilling into being manipulative. The lack of dialogue allows the cast to play out many small moments within a montage approach; this has the downside of perhaps being a bit obvious a device, but it does mean less pressure to have a narrative structure to create all these moments within. Within this approach it is Mandy Moody that really makes it work. Gouchoe is strong too, but Moody really delivers a sense of real emotional struggle – the feeling of someone who carries sadness and loss even when she is happy with progress; of someone struggling to love the person while also hating what happened to them and what it means for their lives. I found it really overwhelming to be put into her mindset and feelings for the short film's duration – and it was Moody that made that happen.

The direction is strong through with a very natural "documentary" look to the short. I was not totally sold on the montage approach, but it is well edited together with only some touches that I thought pushed the emotion in a way that it really did not need help with. It is a very strong short though, the use of music and the controlled yet moving approach pays off, and in particular Moody delivers an emotive and emotional performance to really explain it to the viewer in a way that works much better than long dialogue sequences could.