The Birthday Trip – Movie Review
It’s the perfect set-up. Three upper-class millennial couples descend on a luxurious farmstay for a joint thirtieth birthday celebration. The scenery is picturesque, primed for an ungodly amount of Instagram content. The exquisite food and beverages are flowing, served by a flustered host whose wife remains awkwardly distant from the festivities. But it’s the sentiment of bringing friends together for a weekend of celebration and love that is at the forefront of everyone’s minds… for at least the first few minutes before the tensions arise and social dynamics are examined that put friendships, and relationships, to the test in the new Australian-made social satire, The Birthday Trip.
Written and directed by James Robert Woods, this ensemble driven dramedy is as hilarious as it is dramatic, and as biting as it is sincere in its wonderfully sharp breakdown of some of Australia’s more elite (and even elite-presenting), covering a wide spectrum of colourful characters, including a weapons manufacturer in the midst of a PR crisis, a social media obsessed wannabe influencer, a finance bro, an “Aussie battler” by clothing but not demeanour, and an aspiring painter who isn’t that great at painting.
The couples under the microscope are Mark (Ben Gerrard) and Isabel (Annelise Hall); Lars (Luke Jacobz) and Angie (Josephine Starte); and Clare (Nicola Frew) and Jim (David Quirk), who all bring awkwardly entertaining tension to the table which puts an already stressed Felix (Robert Preston), the manager of the farmstay, in a deeper state of disarray as he tries to please his guests and his fed-up wife, Sapphire (Sapphire Blossom).
Woods’ script manages to balance the line of being dense and intricate, while also being incredibly funny and easy to follow along with all of the relationship dynamics that are brought to the fold. Using the opening 10 or so minutes to set up all of the exposition needed for the characters and their hierarchy, both actual and self-perceived, within the group, Woods then lets these stereotypical but genuine caricatures of the “1%” run rampant in a film full of hijinks, misadventure, and self-sabotauring, while also being a commentary on the insane social disparity that is apparent in today’s culture. It’s an eat the rich film where the rich ultimately eat themselves simply because personalities clash with other rich folk. The entire cast does a phenomenal job of bringing a sincerity to the characters. Even though there are heightened situations that work in the sense of “movie logic”, there never is a point where someone’s performance feels like it goes too far past the tone that The Birthday Trip is set in.
The film is shot in a hand-held, over-the-shoulder camera style that matches the frenetic nature of the dialogue and situations. There is a controlled chaos that Woods’ direction brings to the film that exacerbates the tension to a very uncomfortable level. It’s a stylistic filmmaking choice that is a lot to visually take in, because aside from one very calm and poignant scene where the couples are stargazing, it’s a style that never lets you breathe, and in fact, could cause a lot of motion sickness. But, it also feels like the exact right decision to capture and portray the insanity that is unfolding over the story. And while that insanity is the definition of “first world problems”, it’s chaotic enough within the world of the film.
The Birthday Trip is a brilliant, sharp, and funny Australian dramedy that is packed with insufferable characters put in hilarious situations. It’s the type of movie that you may feel like you won’t enjoy because of its premise, but it’s executed with a great amount of comedic precision, and brought to life by a great ensemble cast.
The Birthday Trip is in Australian cinemas July 30
