Birth (2004)

An highly interesting and philosophical gem that casts a spellbinding mood upon the viewer. Certainly it is a film like no other and you have to give credit for director Jonathan Glazer who is fearless with his own screenplay which he co-wrote with Milo Addica and Jean-Claude Carriere.
Not many directors would have the balls to tell a story about a universal and one of a kind love between ten-year old boy and a widowed adult woman. It is a film that may even shock people with it's subject matter, but it is obvious right from the start that this is a film which will not let you go easily.
This film also serves a career best performance from Nicole Kidman. Her performance as a love torn woman is an art itself. She definetly proves to be one of the greatest living actors alive today.
Birth is a film with wonderful marriage with style and substance. It is a film more of an little gestures than overblown acts, and it certainly will surprise the viewer with it's story.
What still strikes me most here is the fact how heartbreakingly sad and beautiful this film really is. Jonathan Glazer manages to create some of the most stunning images and moments seen in recent cinema. The fantastic three minute tracking shot which begins the film is by far one of the greatest openers made. There is equally impressive moment later in the film where Glazer shows Kidman's emotions without words. This two minute shot tells us everything what her character Anna is going through at moment. It is daring and uncompromising moment of filmmaking. With lenser Harris Savides and composer Alexandre Desplat, Glazer has achieved something spellbinding here. A cinema as pure magic.
At it's core Birth is story about love, choices and letting go. Main character Anna must choose between impossible true love or betray herself with possible false one. And when the heartbreaking finale arrives it feels like a emotional stab in the heart. In that final scene Kidman's performance becomes more than acting and we can see the pain and grief on her face. Just like in the fantastic two minute sequence in the concert. In the end it feels a bit distant and cold as a film but it is certainly is something completely of it's own.