MIFF 2023 Film Review - Birdeater
Images courtesy of Common State.
When hearing the concept for Jack Clark and Jim Weir’s 2023 film Birdeater, an Australian Bachelor party turning feral after the bride-to-be is invited along, one is likely to assume that this is another in the long line of Australian films like Picnic at Hanging Rock and Walkabout - a genre most obviously defined as people freaking out in the bush. While there is a considerable amount of bush freak out in Birdeater, it moves in a significantly different direction to the films mentioned above.
Perhaps a more accurate filmic comparison is the classic Australian psychological horror Ted Kotcheff’s Wake in Fright. Birdeater contains several visual nods to Kotcheff’s film. Matching scenes of a flood light adorned ute speeding through the bush appear in both films as do almost identical scenes of shocked indignation at a drinking partner refusing yet another beer.
What does not come through in Birdeater is possibly the most interesting aspect of Wake in Fright, this being an actual fear of the Australian landscape. This fear, which was used throughout this 70s wave of Aussie film, works to highlight Australia’s position as a product of settler colonialism. Despite its clear respect for Wake in Fright and its meaning, Birdeater only manages to represent the idea of living on unhappily stolen land at a surface visual level. Instead Birdeater seems to be looking only to Wake in Fright’s depictions of masculinity and aggression, completely removing the 1971 film from its geographical and political context.
That being said, Birdeater is by no means a bad film and it stands as an excellent sign of things to come from the duo behind it. The idea of masculinity, aggression and manipulation come out in force through both the writing and performances. Mackenzie Fearnley shines as the pathetically controlling Louie as does Ben Hunter, who plays his aggressive chain smoking friend Dylan. Both performances work to represent different forms of manipulation, and become even more insidious as the film goes on.
Throughout the runtime the audience are treated to a master class of drip feeding. Information about the various romances and friendships are revealed slowly and naturally. This steady technique not only avoids clunky exposition - it also helps to ratchet up the film's tension.
This steady increase of tension is best displayed when the whole group plays a game of paranoia. This entire scene is absolutely excellent - building with the rhythmic repetition of the coin flipping and Louie’s name being said over and over again. Similarly, the choice to not show us how the coin lands until the very end of the scene is a wonderful one. The audience is forced to consider whether Dylan, the character flipping the coin, is lying just to antagonise Louie.
If this scene and the overall use of tension represent the start of a pattern for Jack Clark and Jim Weir, I look forward to catching their next film. I just hope that they can provide some deeper analysis along with the unease.
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Birdeater is screening as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, running in metro cinemas August 3-20 and online August 18-27.
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