Directed by:
Susanne BierScreenplay:
Eric HeissererCinematography:
Salvatore TotinoCast:
Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, Jacki Weaver, Rosa Salazar, Danielle Macdonald, Lil Rel Howery, Tom Hollander (more)VOD (1)
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In this unpredictable sci-fi thriller, based on the bestselling novel of the same name, a mother, Malorie (Sandra Bullock), and two children navigate a hostile, even demonic landscape after an apocalyptic event. As Malorie confronts her ambivalence toward motherhood while learning the rules of her new uncertain existence, she and a small group of survivors must grasp in the dark — figuratively and literally — in the hope that there is life outside of themselves. (AFI Fest)
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Reviews (12)
Netflix, a good director, decent idea and actors. That’s becoming a synonym for 2018. I hope that sticks with the years to come as Birdbox is quite a good apocalyptic drama I could imagine as a series. What makes me happy is that Sandra Bullock again proved herself to be a great actress. Not many people appreciate her, still I think she deserves some respect. Similarly to the plot of the movie which kept me on the edge of my seat from start to end. However I know how hard it is to walk blindfolded through the forest – had the honor on a team-building exercise I went to – and the characters in this movie made it seem all too easy. It’s true that the plot is a bit naive yet under Susanne Bier’s baton it works perfectly and the movie deserves attention.
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Anyone could admit that it is only a facsimile of A Quiet Place, however, Bird Box cannot be denied its own merit and the fact that it goes off in a different direction. From a technical and acting point of view, it is a great achievement (I think that more time and space could have been given to John Malkovich’s character especially, I would have appreciated that). However, the retrospective narration was painful - and, because of it, you could predict how the movie would turn out from the beginning concerning most of the characters, so there are no real surprises when something really bad happens. The audience is thus unnecessarily deprived of suspense, and it is impossible to generate an emotional connection with the characters from the start, which is a great shame with this type of movie. Also, perhaps only those with the sunniest of dispositions could have actually believed the ending.
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I liked it a little more than A Quiet Place, because this film started, continued and ended with a intimate-depressing atmosphere, and never drifted towards action scenes at all costs. Moreover, the evil that was causing all this was even more mysterious, unknown the entire time and thus more interesting. That's great. And the scene with the car ride to the supermarket was truly superb.
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One of the best directorial works by Susanne Bier, who has endured the dangers of a film in which a piece of hypersensitive kitsch is definitely dormant. But, folks, Sandra is great and Trevante Rhodes shows that his special fragility is as astounding as his musculature. Screenwriter Erik Heisserer is an aspirant and intends to specialize in female alien encounters ... which is why the structure of the two alternating levels of storytelling works very well. Bird Box has a nice rhythm and does not drag, and moreover, it avoids the absurd escalation that damaged the similarly tuned A Quiet Place. It's a bit unfortunate that the point itself feels a little lost, and the main character, despite trying to question her relationship to unwanted motherhood, never quite goes deep enough. But chattering aside, this is very solid genre work in all respects, also because the creators eventually gathered enough courage not to show the evil at all. I wish their Hollywood colleagues would take an example from them. One of the best Netflix originals and a dignified reparation for ultimate evil from Shyamalan's The Happening.
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A similarly conceived atmospheric group survival like A Quiet Place, or the slightly more pompous and louder World War Z, two films dealing with a global apocalypse and the initial inability to locate why, or even how to defend oneself. Unlike its competitors, Bird Box doesn't go the route of flashy kills or massive shots of tons of dead bodies. Instead, it plays an interesting game between a group of people, led by the initially slightly controversial mother Sandra Bullock, and an invisible evil. It's a film that surprisingly isn't about being out there, and to make that very clear, it's very slow and hard to find out what's actually going on. Instead, Susanne BIer plays a rather sophisticated and entertaining game about the fact that the absolutely key clue to victory is family cohesion, dreams and the will to go on no matter what. All this in a non-pathetic, light and perhaps even "fun" way that does not outright bring pain. I would ignore the experts who will bitterly complain that they didn't get the explanation they needed. There's an abundance of it, it can be taken at any time, you just need to watch carefully, because sometimes the greatest danger may not be visible at first sight.
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