The Europen press does not seem impressed with Nicole Kidman's new film

http://www.ecranlarge.com/critique-c...-kidman-44.php

Pro-B

Here is the highly informative review for the clicking impaired:

Nicole Kidman continue à nous surprendre dans ses choix de carrière, en alternant productions auteuristes (Dogville) et grosses machineries hollywoodiennes (Cold Mountain, Et l’homme créa la femme). Thème rarement abordé au cinéma (trop casse-gueule ?), la réincarnation n’avait pas fait l’objet d’un film depuis Little Bouddha en 1993. Sur le fond, Birth ne cherche pas à prendre parti pour ou contre la réincarnation, le film se contentant d'exposer les opinions des différents protagonistes dans leur croyance ou non à la réincarnation de feu Sean, le mari d’Anna, dans le corps du tout jeune Cameron Bright.

À ce petit jeu, auquel seules les femmes ont le monopole de la croyance (?!?), et grâce notamment à la performance très troublante de ce jeune acteur prometteur opposé à une Kidman en proie aux doutes, le film instaure peu à peu son étrange climat. Mais c’était sans compter sur une seconde moitié de film où, à force de « j’y crois maintenant », « j’y crois plus », « j’y crois toujours pas », le récit s’obscurcit plus qu’il ne le devrait, finissant par nous lasser et nous faire perdre le fil. Dommage donc qu’à l’arrivée, pareil talent d’acteurs et de metteur en scène (très belle photo au sein de cet immeuble grand luxe) soit gâché par une intrigue visiblement trop peu approfondie. Cette « naissance » ne marquera donc pas durablement les esprits, et LE film sur ce grand thème qu’est la réincarnation reste encore à faire.

As you wish.....

An Engilsh one...
http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=136467


An Italian one...
http://www.cineclick.it/recensioni/archiv/birth.asp

Russian one....
http://www.film.ru/article.asp?ID=4009

...yet another Italian one...
http://www.filmup.com/birth.htm


I think it is fair to say they all have a few things in common...

Pro-B

.....and I suppose the Chinese dvdtalkers get jack shit (again).

Wo xi wang ni man man si, dan kuai dian xia di yu!. Cao ni zu zong shi ba dai

She better give Annette Benning her haircut back.

From the trailer I saw I thought it looked fantastic. I'll see it regardless of the reviews.

Nice wig, kidman.

Whoa. Doesn't this picture remind you of rosemary's baby.

I've heard nothing about this movie. But I definately liked her better with long hair.

From the review:
"Verdict
An elusive film that dances to its own tune, Birth will not suit audience members looking for clear-cut answers. But if you are prepared to let yourself fall under its mysterious spell, you will find it a beguiling and rewarding experience."

Seems like a decent review to me... Am I missing something?

Pictures of Nicole Kidman with short hair?

The english one is the only one I can read, and it's positive. So is this a trick post?

The English one does indeed seem to be positive without outright saying it is. Sounds pretty interesting, I'll definitely see it.

I don't know what the guy's agenda is, but the reviews I've read have mostly been positive. Screendaily is one that really liked the film, but unfortunately I don't have access to the review anymore. Here's one from Variety:

Variety:

Worlds away from the tightly coiled violence, time-shuffling structure and stylish visuals of his debut "Sexy Beast," director Jonathan Glazer's "Birth" unfolds with a church-like solemnity only marginally less chilly and emotionally austere than the last Nicole Kidman-Lauren Bacall pairing, "Dogville." But while it veers heavily toward pretentiousness, this striking metaphysical mystery is intensely compelling, conjuring a mood between European high-arthouse and the unsettling psychological horror of "Rosemary's Baby."

Jonathan Glazer? I'm there.

No, thisis not a trick post and I was ready to discuss some of the reactions the film has generated so far. In fact, the English review is the cloasest one that comes to "not impressive" others are are even stronger, particularly in France. My agenda was/is not to create a negative environment...but to spur some discussion based on some of the first (controversial??) reviews that came out.

With posts like "jack-shit" and obviously sarcastic remarks I am not going to engage in any firther discussion.

Pro-B

Is this the movie where she fucks a little boy?

No, that was Far and Away and Days of Thunder.

...mao...

...fwiw, here's another English language (and quite negative) review... sounds (to me! to me!) like this is one VSM (Very Silly Movie)...

. . . . . .

I saw the preview and thought it looked pretty terrible.

I'm interested in this film, mostly because I just love Nicole Kidman, and hopefully this will be in more theaters than Dogville.

ya know, not to sound like a prude, but I am kind of wierded out that the F word is now allowable in this (and all of DVDTalk) forum. Maybe I should frequent Home Theater Forum now... just kiddin'

This is the first I've heard of this film.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...217883,00.html

You mean a film where Nicole Kidman is making out with a child in a bathtub is getting bad reviews. Shocking!

I saw this film tonight and thought that it was pretty bad. It has such an interesting premise, but is just directed very poorly. Many scenes just hold on characters doing nothing long after their dialogue is finished, or there is a huge pause while characters eat dinner or something in the middle of a dialogue scene.

There are also many scenes that make no sense whatsoever. You could just remove them from the movie and it would make no difference, as they have no relavance to anything else in the film. Conversely, it also appeared that many scenes might have been cut, as a lot of times it would jump into the middle of scene and we (the audience) would have no idea what was going on for several minutes, if at all.

And Kidman was hideous with her hair like that, and her extremely skeletal figure.

How could Europeans not go for a love story between a woman and a boy? Has the world gone crazy? Did the writers get the sexes wrong?