Birthday (Saeng-il) Reviews
November 10, 2019
as director Lee delicately traces the sense of guilt and recrimination in this fracturing household, she is also modulating the grief of a nation still haunted by tragedy, and still finding ways to exorcise its ghosts.
October 24, 2019
Private grief and public mourning are examined in "Birthday," a deeply moving drama about a fractured family attempting to get on with life following the death of their son in the 2014 Sewol ferry tragedy.
August 14, 2019
Birthday promises to be a tearjerker, but does not live up to it.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/5
June 23, 2019
Birthday is about coping mechanisms, some destructive, and some pointless, and some counterproductive but others do manage to work.
May 28, 2019
A story about grief, loss and guilt, and the overwhelming sense of helplessness that threatens to consume those touched by death.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
May 15, 2019
This could have been an unremittingly bleak film, but Lee Jong-un manages to find little moments of tenderness and humour - making the big emotional moments all the more devastating.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
April 18, 2019
Birthday is precisely the kind of warts-and-all examination of human nature that defines Lee's career, and is composed entirely of the difficult moments that are often glossed over for more palatable, unchallenging observations.