Much has been said about a scene where Sean boldly gets into the bathtub with her, but the movie handles it with such care and tact that it sidesteps controversy. THE LOTTERY OF BIRTH is the first in a three-part documentary series entitled 'Creating Freedom' exploring the relationship between freedom, power and control in Western democracies. They're realists, rich, a little jaded. “It’s very surreal because we just finished the movie,” he said during a recent stop in Los Angeles. "He was my brother-in-law." Border Movie Review + Explanation Spoiler Section. instead, he gave it to the blond lady to prove he loved her more. Birth is the story of a young boy who claims to be the re-incarnation of the husband of a woman about to remarry after 10 years. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. And then the film ventures into the delicate area of exactly how a woman in her 30s goes about relating to a 10-year-old boy who is or was or will again be her husband. Birth of a Nation. The family includes her sister, Laura (Alison Elliott), her brother-in-law, Bob (Arliss Howard), and her close friends Clara (Anne Heche) and Clifford (Peter Stormare). What I wasn't expecting was a film that treats it as intelligent, skeptical adults might. At a point when the characters seem satisfied they have arrived at the truth, I believed them, but it wasn't truth enough for me. Anna's mother, for her part, thinks the whole situation is dangerous nonsense and could develop into a crime. | At first, they simply laugh at the boy (Cameron Bright). In one mordantly funny scene, they eat ice cream while she asks him how they will live, and he says, "I'll get a job." If you’ve never heard of John Ajvide Lindqvist that’s okay, not too many people have. Anna lives with her mother, Eleanor (Lauren Bacall), in a luxurious Manhattan duplex. A young boy attempts to convince a woman that he is her dead husband reborn. Sean is the name of Anna's husband, who died 10 years ago. Directed by Brady Corbet. | What he means is that he is Sean and that when Sean died while jogging in Central Park, he was reborn and now here he stands, age 10. Other critics disliked Birth … Birth at first seems equally poised between the rational and irrational: ghost story or psychological portrait. Echoes of "Rosemary's Baby" are inevitable, given the similarity of the apartment locations and Kidman's haircut, so similar to Mia Farrow's. by Mother of Movies. Synopsis Zack is as wild and crazy as ever, brimming with excitement about the self-actualization program he's just finished called Rebirth. 8/10. Sometimes a movie's shocking twist, ambiguous ending, or artsy finale can be more confusing than satisfying. (more) Anna is a young widow who is finally getting on with her life after the death of her husband, Sean. Andrew is a New Zealand-born writer, filmmaker, and theatre practitioner who sometimes lives in Canada. Summaries. An analysis of the classic film Birth of a Nation. According to him, “where Birth scores is that it offers a real, unitary ending—unlike K-PAX, starring Kevin Spacey, who, exasperatingly, may or may not be a visitor from another planet”. Because it is about adults who act like adults, who are skeptical and wary, it's all the creepier, especially since Cameron Bright is so effective as the uninflected and non-cute Sean. Gem of a psychological thriller. The movie goes deep and then it takes a turn, and leaves us asking fundamental questions.