Birthday

(2009)

Johnny's comments:

You know what I haven't capped in a while. A new Australian film.

Birthday is a drama focusing on various prostitutes in a brothel and some of their clients on the birthday of popular prostitute M (Natalie Eleftheriadis). Lonely on her birthday, she recalls various moments in her life that got her to where she is today, starting with an enthralled Lily (Kestie Morassi) and then helping a priest who has lost his faith (Travis McMahon). Meanwhile, Cindy (Ra Chapman, good as a shy girl in the recently released Face to Face) is right on the edge, bringing her young child to work and taking drugs and drinking alcohol. Cindy is fired after vomiting on a client, but has nowhere to go and she doesn't want anyone to know, even M, who helps her out. Finally, Joey (Richard Wilson), who is also having his birthday, is still struggling with the suicide of his mother and is lonely, seeking solace with the priest and when he finds a business card for the brothel with M's details on it, he decides to go there. Unexpectedly, Joey and M will help each other out. Birthday is based on a play and plays out very much like one, but that is not a bad thing in this case. From the director of Shot of Love, a film I remember quite liking, Birthday also features a very strong female lead with the veritable unknown Natalie Eleftheriadis. This film is about eschews the usual brothel cliches and focuses on finding love in the simplest things and remembering lost loves that have had profound impact on the various character's lives. At times, Birthday is quite confronting, but not because of the sex and nudity or the subject matter of prostitution, which there is little of, but the raw feelings that are shown. The film has been struggling for a release, but now that it is finally on DVD it is well worth a look (and hopefully not hard to find).

Ra Chapman film clip (collages below)

Vicki Mueller film clip (sample below)

Natalie Eleftheriadis collages

Kestie Morassi collages