Thursday, November 28, 2019

The Birthday Party (1968)


IMDb plot summary: The down-at-heel lodger in a seaside boarding house is menaced by two mysterious strangers, who eventually take him away.
Directed by William Friedkin. Starring Robert Shaw, Patrick Magee, Sydney Tafler, and Dandy Nichols.

I had no experience with or understanding of the play at all prior to this, but it sounds like something I wouldn't get into at all. It does that thing I dislike about David Lynch films, in that it teases you with some sort of logical narrative by being pretty coherent moment-to-moment but just feels like it's leaving out a piece, and if you knew what that one piece of lost information was, you'd understand the whole plot. I found myself zoning out during the film, and whatever emotional response I was supposed to take away from it, I didn't. Not my type of play or movie.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Birthday Party < Blow Out
The Birthday Party < A Farewell to Fools
The Birthday Party < Gigi
The Birthday Party < The Book Thief
The Birthday Party > The Incredible Journey
The Birthday Party > Around the World in 80 Days (2004)
The Birthday Party < The Lake House
The Birthday Party > Atlantic Rim
The Birthday Party > Island in the Sun
The Birthday Party > One for the Money
The Birthday Party > Men in Black II
Final spot: #2863 out of 3027.

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