I had no idea what to think going into the movie. The trailers made out to be another supernatural thriller featuring another in a long line of creepy kids. But it turned out to be much, much less than that. It actually turned out to be the worst film I have seen in a long, long time. It was dull, stupid, pointless, it makes The Cat in the Hat (my pick for worst of 2003) look like Citizen Kane. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
The film opens with a great shot sequence, which turned out to be the best part of the film. We open on black, the voice of a man enters the theater speaking about how, as a man of science, he does not believe in mumbo jumbo like reincarnation. I guess this is meant to be ironic considering what is to follow. The image comes up and we are following a jogger, presumably the owner of the voice, making his way through Central Park on his way home. The shot is lingering with the credits over it, the man enters an underpass, pauses, bends over and collapses. The shot then cuts to a child being born, I guess this is happening at the same moment as the man's death. Then we abruptly jump forward ten years.
I have just described the best thing about this movie, so you can save your time and skip the rest of this if you'd like, if you are otherwise inclined, continue on.
We are introduced to Nicole Kidman's character, Anna, who is having a party to celebrate her engagement to Joseph (Danny Huston). Apparently, Anna was married to the guy earlier in the park and now feels ready to move on with her life. Next step is a birthday party for Anna's mother (Lauren Bacall). This marks the first entrance of a ten year old boy who sneaks into their home and wishes to speak to Anna. He introduces himself as Sean, which we again have to assume was the name of her late husband. We are led to think that this is the reincarnation of the deceased. Of course, everyone just laughs at first and insist on being left alone.
Then all of a sudden, Anna decides to believe him and starts plotting on how they can be together. This brings us to a point of controversy, and the biggest reason this movie is getting any press. Nicole and the boy share a kiss, a brief non-romantic one, but still. And at another point they share a bath tub, with implied nudity. Neither scene adds anything to the movie, but they needed something to add some controversy.
The story then takes a turn that was unforeseen. I won't describe it for the two of you still reading who may be interested. Just let me say it just increased the level of stupid in this movie. The characters intelligence rivals that of the common teen fodder in a slasher film, and the teens come out on top. Also, this movie would have us believe that Sean is the dullest person alive, there is no talk about his work or much of his prior "life," you would think that something more in depth would have been explored.
Birth is boring. There are these long lingering shots on people's faces for no reason that I could discern. I guess we are supposed to see them realizing something, but it doesn't work. There is no real exposition, nor is there any type of exploration of the characters, no background, this leaves us with very shallow characters that we care nothing about. The acting is dry and lifeless. I am a fan of Kidman's work, but here she is just flat, there is no emotion. The only character with any life is Lauren Bacall's feisty Eleanor, she injects a dry sarcastic wit that threatened to bring a smile to my face, and probably would have if I cared about anything that surrounded it.
The direction is as flat and lifeless as anything. These long lingering shots add nothing, but a desire for something, anything. The camera is just there, there is no dynamic to it, it is just sort of there. The writing is just as dull, there is no reason to care about these characters. They are rich, live in a nice apartment, and have zero personality.
Bottomline. The short line is there is no reason to see this movie. It is not creepy or dramatic, there is no tension or mystery, there is no depth nor explanation. As I left the theater I couldn't help but overhear every single one of the other movie goers comment on how stupid the movie was. I can't help but agree.
Not Recommended.
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