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	Birth
	Jonathan Glazer Nicole Kidman, Cameron Bright, Danny Huston, Lauren Bacall, Alison Elliott, Arliss Howard, Anne Heche, Peter Stormare, Ted Levine, Cara Seymour 2004		Nicole Kidman takes hold of the strange, mildly unsettling fantasy "Birth," about a woman who believes that her late husband has been reincarnated as a 10-year old boy, and turns it into an acting tour de force. At one juncture, a tracking shot comes to rest on Kidman's alabaster face for more than a minute, allowing her to subtly register a range of moods with the barest twitch of a muscle and glint in the eye. It's amazing. Despite the similar body-switching theme, "Birth" offers ambiguities to set it apart from the stage and film romance "Prelude to a Kiss." Even if it's hard to buy the central premise, the movie is well constructed, and beautifully performed by Kidman as Anna, Danny Huston as her current suitor, Joseph, and the gifted Cameron Bright as the boy who says that his body is housing the spirit of Anna's husband, Sean. Living in a comfy Manhattan world of privilege, most of the adult characters in "Birth" try to be blasé about a child coming out of nowhere and proclaiming to be a loved one back from the grave. But even the most liberal-minded people have their limits. Lauren Bacall appears as Anne's mother who's eager for her daughter to move on. Peter Stormare plays Sean's best friend Clifford, and Anne Heche plays Clifford's wife; both doubt the boy's veracity. Then there's Anna, conflicted, damaged, hopeful. Kidman in the part is reason enough to give "Birth" a shot.


	Saturday, April 20, 2024





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