Expected more

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

CONTAINS SPOILERS. Queer themed Italian cinema needs to grow up, this recent entry in the canon is all the further proof we need. Not nearly as god-awful as Ferzan Ozpetek's critically revered and homophobic HAMAM, DAVID'S BIRTHDAY is not immune to the sacrificial lamb syndrome. The "controversial" twist is all in on who will get butchered this time around, because we all know that homosexual desire is harbinger of doom. Slow paced and poorly written, often the case with publicly-funded Italian cinema, the film plays out as a cross pollinated low rent hybrid of Visconti's "Death in Venice" and Malle's "Damage". Such high influences are clearly stated over and over again, but high art - or even simple lyricism - are definitely out of reach for Marco Filiberti's fraudulent hands.

Built on the theme of ill-fated love, this film merges modern cinema with opera and emerges with a hybrid which infuses the viewer with a morality tale under two hours duration. Emotional theatrics reveal the frayed and tattered mental state of these two couples as both attempt to keep the appearances of functional family ties and friendships. While some USA viewers may find the emotional intensity "over the top," I find it similar to the emotional intensity that was infused into American Western genre when it went Italian and added an operatic theme to the story-telling. While no bullets are flying in a "pulp fiction" sensational style, the emotional content and the poignant plot climax enliven a rather dull scenario of viewing yet another "Doing Time on Maple Drive" clone-film with subtitles.

Oooops! You dirty little finger! You bad bad dirty uncle! How come you turned suddenly gay? Well, bad uncle turns suddenly gay, on the exact inverted ratio this film turns operatic, and just plain bad. Do films this bad get still made? Apparently, so. I for one thought that this kind of muddled film-making was something I left behind in the 80's, when I was a kid: the Mediterranean sea, the sky, the sun and the moon, and some adults scattered like scenery moving among the elements for no great purpose. Some nice candy though - just the next time make the sex scene longer than the mutilated, really cringing Wagner reference, you conceited amateurs! And make it even bigger and larger, in fact take out all footage of psychotherapy sessions and give us some sex, give some to you, too! Someone in this film hates his analyst, or is in need of one, for there is nothing that rings true concerning the analytic situation.As it is the only reference (someone mentions Sirk - my foot) - are you ready to cringe? - is some sort of delirious "Death in Venice"...gone south, and turned into "Death to Penis". Oscar Wilde does it again! "All bad poetry is sincere." So, if you feel like a sincere film, or don't have time enough to bring in any psychotherapeutic association, or the Wagner Society to sue the makers of this film, relax and watch it! I have to admit that in the end, when tragedy happens and naked David brings his hands to his face, covering it in convulsions as if in recognition of the tragedy - THAT was so bad it turned me on. Bad, bad, dirty me.

Put it this way, if I were rating this movie on attractive male actors, it'd be a ten. The scenery is beautiful, as well. Other than that, this movie wasn't bad. I (like someone else mentioned) had a problem with the lack of forethought put into Matteo's sudden desire for David. It was evident from pretty early on that David is gay, but I thought more could have been done to make Matteo's sexuality believable. Also, I had a problem with the tantrums thrown by Shary. They were soap opera-esque and really distracted me from buying into the reality of the movie.Also, someone mentioned that the uncle (Leonard) was there as a fifth wheel? I whole- heartedly disagree, and I think that you don't understand the movie if you don't appreciate the uncle's role. His story serves as the foreshadowing of things to come. He sees Matteo looking at his nephew, and indirectly warns Matteo not to get involved with David, telling him that there are "some roads you can't turn back on," in reference to the "mistake" he made two years ago with Isabelle. Leonard makes sure that Matteo knows that what he is about to do is wrong, and will have severe consequences (which it does) and, like Leonard, he will never be the same. I do agree, though, that this movie could have done without the third couple.