236. The Birthday Cake; movie review

 

THE BIRTHDAY CAKE

Cert 15

93 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong language, violence, sex references, nudity, drug misuse

An Italian mob movie with Paul Sorvino, Ewan McGregor, Lorraine Bracco and Val Kilmer? I couldn't wait.

Sadly, The Birthday Cake didn't meet a fraction of my expectations.

In part, this is down to the fact that many of the stars have the briefest of cameos, notably Sorvino whose two words include an expletive.

McGregor appears early and very late in the movie and throws in a bit of narration while Bracco's contribution is equally brief.

Kilmer is only on screen for a bit longer but speaks through a voicebox which makes much of his dialogue incomprehensible.

Jimmy Giannopoulos's film focus's on Gio (Shiloh Fernandez), a low-key member of an Italian family in Brooklyn.

A decade previously his father was killed and now to mark the anniversary of his death he delivers a symbolic cake from his mother to the men in the family.

Along his walk, he is accosted around every corner by both cops and rivals demanding to know the whereabouts of his loose-cannon cousin (Emory Cohen).

The violence appears to unfold in real-time while there are also punctuations in which history is explained and even a brief spark of love interest.

The trouble is that there is no emotional pull. The audience doesn't get to know characters for long enough to care when they receive their comeuppance.

And the style of following Gio with a hand-held camera causing jolted delivery and a sense of chaos and diluting the action rather than increasing its impact.

In addition, fulfils every gangster cliche.

Ultimately, The Birthday Cake had the ingredients but is bland and unsatisfying. It needed more spice.

Reasons to watch: A rare mob movie

Reasons to avoid: Fails to grab as tightly as it should

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: Yes

Overall rating: 4/10

Did you know? In 2007, Paul Sorvino launched Paul Sorvino Foods to market a range of pasta sauces. Based on his mother's recipe, the product appeared in supermarkets in the northeastern United States in late 2009

The final word. Jimmy Giannopoulos: "I love all the early Scorcese stuff; I think it’s great. Sean Price Williams, the DP, told me about some Japanese Mafia movies, and I watched a lot of those. Yakuza Suicide was one I really liked. Dude, those movies were so punk rock. They were just whipping the camera around. As a kid, I always watched the mafia stuff. More importantly, I always liked New York set productions. The two together just seem to really work." Film Threat

Share this post