Birdeater

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Birdeater
Directed byJack Clark
Jim Weir
Written byJack Clark
Jim Weir
Produced byUlysses Oliver (Breathless Films)
Stephanie Troost
StarringMackenzie Fearnley
Shabana Azeez
Ben Hunter
CinematographyRoger Stonehouse
Edited byBen Anderson
Music byAndreas Dominguez
Distributed by Umbrella Entertainment
Release dates
  • June 2023 (2023-06)
(Sydney Film Festival)
  • 18 July 2024 (2024-07-18)
(Australian cinemas)
Running time
113m
CountryAustralia

Birdeater is a 2023 Australian horror film, featuring psychological and emotional abuse. It is the debut feature of writer-directors Jack Clark and Jim Weir.

Contents

Synopsis

A group of privileged young men gather for Louie's bachelor party in a rural location one night. Louie has invited his fiancée, Irene, and one of his friends, Charlie invites his fiancée Grace, to make Irene feel more comfortable. As time goes on, it becomes apparent that there are serious flaws in Louie's relationship with Irene.

Cast

Production

Writer-directors Weir and Clark met while both studying at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney. It took them around 18 months to get the film into production owing to lack of funding, which in the end came from around eight parties who each put in A$10,000. [1]

The film is set in a rural location in New South Wales, and was filmed in the bush around the village of St Albans in the Hawkesbury. [2] Filming began in a valley called Forgotten Valley in 2021, but the set was washed out by flooding and after four weeks they had run out of money after shooting only half of the film. Six months later a new investor came on board and they finished shooting in two weeks. [1]

Fledging Sydney production company Breathless Films, run by co-founders Ulysses Oliver and Ben Ferris, helped with the development and produced the film. [3] [4]

Release

Birdeater had its world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival in June 2023, [5] and was also screened at the 2023 Melbourne and Brisbane International Film Festivals. It screened at SXSW in Austin, Texas, in 2024. [3]

The film opened in Australian cinemas on 18 July 2024. [6]

Reception

Birdeater received mixed reviews. Many reviewers likened it to the 1971 classic Australian horror film Wake in Fright , with both films featuring urban professionals in rural locations, and both looking at the effects of toxic masculinity, although through very different characters and reflecting their respective contemporary cultures. [2]

Peter Gray of The AU Review gave the film five out of five stars, writing "Visceral and feral, Birdeater blends its topical commentary on separation anxiety and fragile masculinity with an almost hallucinatory mentality. Its intrusive editing and claustrophobic camera shots further highlight Weir and Clark's stronghold on genre execution, resulting in a truly horrific vision that revels in its uncompromising temperament". [7] Grace Roodenrys, writing in the Sydney Arts Guide, called it "A brilliant new Australian film", giving it five out of five stars. [8] X-Press Magazine gave the film 9 out of 10 stars, praising the acting, direction, pacing, and editing. [9]

FilmInk valued the film as worth A$15.00 (out of a maximum of A$20.00), writing "it's not breaking any new ground, but it's suspenseful, effectively disturbing and for the most part, very well acted". [10]

Ari Mattes wrote in The Conversation : "Birdeater is brilliantly shot and edited, the sound design and music are exemplary... and the acting is absolutely first-rate", and thinks it worth seeing, but that the second half did not live up to the promise of the first. [11] Luke Buckmaster gave it two stars out of five, and wrote in The Guardian "Shabana Azeez and Mackenzie Fearnley are good as the husband and wife to be but this horror film feels indecisive and stretches too long". [6]

Awards and nominations

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References

  1. 1 2 Rugendyke, Louise (10 July 2024). "Australian film: How small-budget thriller Birdeater went from zero to hero". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  2. 1 2 Heath, Nicola (23 July 2024). "New psychological thriller Birdeater is a gen Z take on Aussie cult classic Wake in Fright". ABC News . Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  3. 1 2 Clark, Jack; Weir, Jim (16 July 2024). "Interview: Jack Clark and Jim Weir on deconstructing Australian men with their horror film Birdeater". The AU Review (Interview). Interviewed by Gray, Peter. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  4. ↑ "About". Breathless Films. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  5. ↑ Kornits, Dov (16 April 2024). "A Goliath Launch for Birdeater". FilmInk. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  6. 1 2 Buckmaster, Luke (18 July 2024). "Birdeater review – nightmarish buck's party in the bush becomes faintly preposterous". the Guardian. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  7. ↑ Gray, Peter (16 July 2024). "Film Review: Birdeater blends its topical commentary on separation anxiety and fragile masculinity with an almost hallucinatory mentality". The AU Review . Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  8. ↑ "Birdeater : A brilliant new Australian film". Sydney Arts Guide. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  9. ↑ Meek, Paul (15 July 2024). "Review: Birdeater – A bird in the hand". X-Press Magazine. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  10. ↑ Kornits, Dov (6 July 2024). "Birdeater". FilmInk . Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  11. ↑ Mattes, Ari (19 July 2024). "Birdeater starts like a successor to Wake In Fright – but ends up like an episode of Home and Away". The Conversation. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  12. ↑ McDonald, John (24 July 2024). "Movie reviews – Gothic Aussie Birdeater and old-school B flick MaXXXine". Australian Financial Review . Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  13. ↑ Slatter, Sean (21 June 2023). "'Birdeater', 'The Defenders' top Sydney Film Festival Audience Awards". IF Magazine . Retrieved 25 July 2024.
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