Rare Birds (2001)

Very disappointing...

Boring

Better Late Then Never

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Before every episode of that sci-fi classic television series X-Files there would be a promotional teaser that would claim, "All of your questions will be answered…" While you would watch the show, hoping that Mulder and Scully would finally find the answers to life, ultimately by the end, there would be more questions with very very few answers. It was the X-Files and over time we found ourselves used to no questions answered, and continued randomness coupled with confusion. Rare Birds seemed to be directed by an obvious X-Files fan, because here you have a film that is being marketed as the next Saving Grace or Waking Ned Devine, but oddly ends up like neither of these films and more like an unanswered episode of that alien miniseries. There are so many unanswered questions with implausible moments in Rare Birds that instead of focusing on the possible great and unique characters, our minds get muddled in the tangent, random, and completely unfocused story. Rare Birds could have been a comfortable film, it could have been easy, simple, and relaxed, but too many unfamiliar coincidences caused this "independent" film to flap poorly in the wind. Rare Birds will transform any avid bird enthusiast into a full-fledged hunter, shooting any bird that step within their path! What makes Rare Birds an interesting film (and keep in mind this is the only interesting part of the film) is that as you watch this film, you can pinpoint exactly where the muddling begins. There is an exact moment in this film where you can see that the director wanted to add so many different elements that they could not control them all. From the tangent cocaine story(causing unfocused elements in characters that are not developed), to the scientifically profound lights, to the recreational submarine, all the way to the supposed central focus of this film … the rare bird. One would think that the rare bird story, hoping to build a sorrowed character's life to be better, would be the central moment, the breaking moment, but instead the rare bird story is just as unfocused as the rest of the film. Early in the film Hurt and Jones go into Jones' basement and all of these stories collide together. Sadly, when we leave the basement, nothing has been straightened out. This is when our story, Rare Birds, begins to burn and into a slowly crashing direction. It is obvious that Edward Riche's novel has quite a bit more about the characters and their inner-voice explaining better situations. Alas, this did not transform well into a film version. Director Gunnarsson has way too much on the plate, and as we see in other films in the same vein, there becomes a fuzzy central focus. The rare bird story should have been the focus, but instead we attempt to learn about cocaine (and Dave's apparent addiction), the "Winnebago" group, and some random science light issue that is never fully explained thoroughly. Rare Birds starts strong, but ultimately fails because of the classic "buffet-line" issue. Gunnarsson should have followed the rules, "Take all you want, but eat all you take"!Occasionally with films that are as painful as Rare Birds, you sometimes get a great cast that overshadows the failing story. Hurt is awful. I have seen him in so many good films over the years, but this seemed to be too simple of a role for him. Was he doing it for just the cash or was he overplaying the simpleton character? I couldn't tell. Hurt seemed to play Dave with so much remorse, so much pain, that you never could understand what his true story was. His reaction to his wife was flimsy, the story between him and Molly Parker was subsequently as weak, and his reactions to Jones were uncharismatic. He felt bored in this film, and instead of being funny, he just felt sad. His character was nothing to write home about, and I blame Hurt because I know he could have pushed deeper and had fun with Dave overall creating an enjoyable hour and a half. This did not happen, and we were pained for that exact amount of time. The same can be said for Molly Parker who danced her way out of our hearts and Andy Jones who played his character to discretely. There was too much counterbalance between Hurt and Jones that they could not play off each other well. What could have been a decent buddy scenario like Waking Ned Devine turned out to be just two characters talking about incoherent nothing. The story matched the characters, overall souring this film.Overall, Rare Birds was a horrible film. It had the potential to be just a simple, sweet story about friends helping each other, but instead too much was thrown into the mix to muddle the overall tone of the story. With the synopsis centering around some rare birds helping a friend gain new business, I went into the film expecting a buddy story centered with this rare bird story. Alas, it never really congealed that way. That is the biggest gripe of this film. I don't mind getting into a film and experiencing something different, but this was a completely tangent storyline. Nothing was ever developed, nothing was ever answered. I really didn't want an answer by the end of the film, but at the end I felt cheated and wronged. Even the supposed "love story" didn't seem real, but instead very forced. Pass on Rare Birds if you can. It has nothing to do with friendship and very little to do with birds.Grade: * out of *****

In this day and age of fast paced, overstylished movies, comes this tale of a chef and his close friend, who tries to save his buddies deserted restaurant, by inventing the sighting of a near extinct duck near the location to attract customers.While this is going on, there is still time left to work on a recreational submarine, in a basement which is filled with cocaine and the most strange flat lamps.Hurt is acting his guts out as the clumsy, near nerve wrecked chef who's lost in an absurd world. And there is romance too.Well, it's a long time ago I didn't see a movie which reminded me of another one, and this alone is quite an accomplishment. A lovely little movie, quite serene and if you ask me highly underrated pearl of creative cinema.

What a waste of a good cast and exquisite scenery. Moments of humour and greatness but with an absolutely awful subplot that went nowhere about cocaine. And to make matters worse it shows the character of William Hurt using it on a regular basis in the movie. All the main characters needed a dialogue coach apart from Andy Jones who looked surprised at times at running out of good script moments (what, again?). William Hurt had one of the most hit and miss accents of any movie. It was all rather a shame as there was both a good premise and a great promise in the film. Some awful editing too to add to this disjointed effort. Perhaps all the behind the scenes people were busy snorting.....the whole mess certainly reflects it. 6 out of 10 for Andy and the scenery.

very enjoyable film, although one has to detach one's brain to enjoy the ending. Hurt and Parker are terrific, especially the latter. I can see why some have likened this film to _Waking Ned Devine_; however, the village as a whole plays a key role in _Waking Ned Devine_, while _Rare Birds_ is essentially individualistic. Still -- the tin whistles, desolate North Atlantic landscapes, funky characters and bizarre plot lines tie these films together. If you like one, you'll like the other. I rated _Waking Ned Devine_ a 9, I think; _Rare Birds_ gets an 8 from me.