Bird People (2014)

I love this movie so much

Fantastic!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

I sometimes feel that watching movies nowadays is like ordering a meal at a restaurant. You order something on the menu with certain expectations, and declare it a success if at the end those expectations are met.It would be grand to go into movies as an adventure, like a trip, not knowing where the film takes you and experiencing as it goes and only at the end do you know realize that there is no end, the journey was the destination.Ferran takes us on such a journey...The film begins with fantastic scenes of everyday people all in their own little worlds, set in Paris, all with their phones, music, issues, problems, and hones in on Audrey, a housekeeper at an airport hotel and Gary, a tech exec, in town on business..... After a few scenes of their respective stations in life,...we are half expecting the two to meet, perhaps have an adventure or two, and eventually fall in love...But Ferran is not interested in putting together a ROMANTIC COMEDY... it is not on the menu. Instead, she focus not so much on the lives of these two characters... but uses them as a springboard for her main goal, to introduce us to the transcendent in the everyday world and everyday people that surrounds us. I won't go into how she achieves this but, she does it unexpectedly and wonderfully..This film reminds me of some of the wonderful French films they used to make in the 70's by directors like Resnais, Tanner, Sautet, etc. with touches of Jacquot Benoit's A SINGLE GIRL, social commentary thru characters representing a whole generation of young men and women who are trying their best with modern life, but somehow seem out of sorts with the way their lives, and the world is turning out. We need more movies like this.... BTW, I have no idea how Ferran filmed the little sparrow, if it was real or computer-generated, but thru this film. I've become quite enamored with them. It's crazy that people say things like cruelty, violence and so forth in films are just for entertainment and don't really influence people's behavior. Of course films influence how we feel about the world. Just watching this film has made me like birds.

I love French cinema, I love movies that focus on characters rather than action but this is too much. I watched 20 minutes and I couldn't bear it anymore. I tried to give it time so something can developer but nothing happens, really. There's no action whatsoever, no explanation, background voice appears from nowhere, the characters don't seem to have any motivation to do what they do... come on!If you want a 10 minute scene about room cleaning, go ahead and watch it.Oh, and the bird equals freedom cliché it's so obvious that it's annoying!

I'm debating with myself how many points I should give this film. The lowest score, a "1", feels too low,given the production values and on rare occasion interesting scenes. However, if the lowest score can stop someone from watching the film, then it is definitely worth it, because 20 minutes into the thing I wanted to get up from my seat and leave the theater. Firstly, Bird People is boring. There are two main characters in the film. One of the two, Gary the American decides to change his life dramatically. But there is no real investment into his character before this big change takes place. The audience gets left out and it is hard to give a damn about Gary, which is especially true during the "so bad it's funny"- skype breakup scene. Add really hammy acting and dumb dialogue to the mix and you have a complete train wreck of a first hour.The other character, Audrey, is marginally more interesting. But before the film has time to really draw you in - SURPRISE, Audrey turns into a bird! Yes, she really morphs into a bid. The rest of the film is like a cross between a Disney film and an ad for Marlboro Cigarettes. I understand the connection between becoming a bird vs freeing yourself from work and relationships. But it is so overstated and ridiculous that any value the film might have had flutters away. And the ending scene just stinks.

Saw this tonight at TIFF. Piers gave his usual pretentious introduction. I guess my reaction is WTF? It starts off fine, with interesting scenes of the airport…but are we supposed to follow one of these people we see? No. Is there a point to the long introduction? I think not. Then it switches to Audrey on the subway and bus, but a much shorter segment. So then we launch into this big story about Gary Newman (name has no significance according to the director-- she just chose a name that sounded common). Gary quits his job, marriage, children, house, etc. after thinking it over in a sleepless night. No real reason, just that he "feels like a melting sugar cube." Don't we all? So then there is a series of telephone calls with Gary's partners, lawyer, etc. Will this go anywhere in terms of advancing the story? No. Then a much, much longer Skype talk with his wife, Radha Mitchell (one of my favorites). Does this advance the story? No. Then all of a sudden we drop Gary and we focus on Audrey the maid. We know we're switching since "Audrey" appears in a heading on the screen. Subtle. So she gets some overtime, is invited to a party she doesn't go to, tells her father she spent the day at the university when she spent it being a maid at the hotel, and finally we are treated to watching her clean a couple rooms. Suddenly the power goes out, she goes up to the roof, feels that she is falling, and poof, she has turned into a sparrow. Then the sparrow flies around talking to itself and having various adventures. Then the bird turns back into Audrey, she gets on the elevator with Gary, and they have a conversation about "Personne" meaning both "no one" and "a person"--opposite meanings in the same word. Gary asks her what the opposite of this word would be in French. "Pareil" (the same) she says. (If this is the key to the movie, then I don't know how to turn it.) Then they shake hands. Fin.Maybe I missed everything about this movie, maybe not. Yeah, sure, it was technology vs. magic dream state. Sort of. But you know what? Audrey uses modern technology too. A lot of stuff about open windows…which means? Freedom? The best I can come up with is that they are both searching for a better life and looking for freedom. Otherwise, they seem to be random stories that have nothing to do with each other. And if there is an "ending" it eludes me. I'm adding this to my growing list of French films I find incomprehensible. I will say that Anais (Audrey) is cute, so she makes it watchable when she's on screen.Finally, you could also make the case that this whole movie is an extended ad for Marlboros. Everyone smokes--everyone. At every chance they get. They borrow cigarettes. The buy cigarettes. Every time they hold the cigarette box or put it down, we're treated to a closeup of the box and brand name. I guess my question here is how much money did Marlboro pay to get this sort of exposure? Why do we pay to see an ad?