[CRITICAL] FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY

Imported from the land of kangaroos, Fantastic Birthday, the first feature film of the australian Rosemary Myers transforms the teen-movie, a tale of the allegorical baroque, a comedy to be savoured like a sour candy.

Did they have to wait the enthusiasm of a filmmaker who came in from the theatre to dilute a singular moment of existence ? At the moment when the world transformation occurs inevitably, the one who made us, the day before the next day, as mature young adults while the body engages in high-speed transfer. FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY may not be the nugget indie of the year, but it will transport every viewer into the heart of a scene, and colourful ornaments kitsch, whose wood intermingled with enchantment essences extravagant of Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Wes Anderson. It would be however a grave mistake, the dissolve the first steps on the big screen in a simple test of a show, or even plagiarism of the director’s critically acclaimed the Grand Budapest Hotel, Rosemary Myers managed to create a teen-comedy also referenced as original.

FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY opens on a bench in a courtyard of the college. Greta (Bethany Whitmore) and Eliott (Harrison Feldman) have already exchanged replicas as commonplace as silly a meeting hesitant between two students. In this part 1:33, in continuous movement, the wacky plays in the background and a parade of nonsense gets into this annoying dialog, as if the awkwardness was a comedy. The tone is given, in the light of these first few minutes are the unique who build the promise of an invitation in a world of folk, where nothing have sense. But now, just back from a hard day of studies, Greta is summoned by his parents to organize a birthday party as his 15 years are just around the corner. And his reaction, there is no doubt that the young girl is bothered by the idea of mature.

FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY does not mind to take hold of the subject with a lighthearted tone and humorous. Has the realization, Rosemary Myers , there is a certain daring, colorful and funny. On this basis, the feature film did not refuse to be an appealing inventiveness. Because, by multiplying the fluidity and the freedom of the camera, the spring comic of these staggering figures is a certain echo in the cinema quirky nature of Wes Anderson. Therefore, the festivities start and the gallery grotesque guest parade, have fun and dance to the rhythm of the soaring musical disco-funk of the 1970s. In particular, we find a legion of open shirts on the legs of the elephant, the moustache neatly trimmed, straight out of an episode that parodied the tv series That’s 70 Show.

“Fantastic Birthday manages to create a teen-comedy also referenced that the original” Click To Tweet

Then, remembering Max and the Maximonstres of Spike Jonze, the dream, or rather nightmare, takes FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY to the edge spooky where is drawn in trough the allegory of the refusal to grow up. A sign that the change is inexorable is the order of the day, Greta takes refuge in what is left of childhood before the great upheavals that await him : join the circle of young girls become women before she, begin against his will to the discovery of the sexuality, watch her irreversible physical changes and see, numb, in the end manifest at a time. And while the disquieting catharsis of a forest hostile moves forward with dread, Rosemary Myers reminds us, in fine, the delicate step of that is this unique coming-of-age. For a moment in his life that he must learn accept with optimism.

Sofiane

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