Willem Dafoe as a thinly veiled Aristotle Onasis is the best thing going for this over ripe Greek tragedy directed by Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez.
Based on Panos Karnezi’s novel, this navel gaze riot of loose ends is set on an island where guests have assembled for the birth date celebration of Sofia, daughter of Dafoe’s multi millionaire Marcos
Presenting his daughter with a unicorn for her birthday party, the shipping magnate then proceeds to tell the audience this is not the only animal at the affair, introducing Eric Burdon and The Animals to the stage.
This benevolence hides a malevolence as the audience discovers dad wants to pay off his daughter’s lover and force an abortion on his potential grandchild.
Bare buttocks and breasts abound in this Bacchanalia of wealthy excess. Dafoe gives hefty ballast but this boat is full of bloat with no anchor in reality. Most of the characters are unhinged, grotesques offering little in bridging audience accessibility.
Film closes with Dafoe’s spoken word rendition of Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. Ironic? Audacious?
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY plays as part of Europa! Europa Film Festival returning for its fifth year, screening again from 19 February to 19 March, at the Ritz Cinema, Randwick.
The festival has announced its first retrospective strand spotlighting one of the most revered and influential directors of the 20th century with Michelangelo Antonioni: Modernist Master, which includes four films from the Italian director’s artistic zenith.
Collaborating with icon and muse Monica Vitti on L’Avventura, La Notte, L’Eclisse and Red Desert, Antonioni shaped a century and invented a new film language that dissected the tensions between people and their modern worlds with an elegant, eerie cool. The four films will screen throughout the festival.
Website: europafilmfestival.com.au
Facebook: facebook.com/europafilmfest
Instagram: instagram.com/europafilmfest
