User Reviews

Put it this way, if I were rating this movie on attractive male actors, it'd be a ten. The scenery is beautiful, as well.

Other than that, this movie wasn't bad. I (like someone else mentioned) had a problem with the lack of forethought put into Matteo's sudden desire for David. It was evident from pretty early on that David is gay, but I thought more could have been done to make Matteo's sexuality believable. Also, I had a problem with the tantrums thrown by Shary. They were soap opera-esque and really distracted me from buying into the reality of the movie.

Also, someone mentioned that the uncle (Leonard) was there as a fifth wheel? I whole- heartedly disagree, and I think that you don't understand the movie if you don't appreciate the uncle's role. His story serves as the foreshadowing of things to come. He sees Matteo looking at his nephew, and indirectly warns Matteo not to get involved with David, telling him that there are "some roads you can't turn back on," in reference to the "mistake" he made two years ago with Isabelle. Leonard makes sure that Matteo knows that what he is about to do is wrong, and will have severe consequences (which it does) and, like Leonard, he will never be the same. I do agree, though, that this movie could have done without the third couple.

Life is an opera.. And so it seems..."the characters becoming prey to their own impulses..." This is the story of a married man named Matteo and his sexual longing for the young visiting hunk David. Would he give in to his desires? What consequences await them?

Massimo Poggio who plays Matteo is an eye-turner even for his age. He is also one brilliant actor though I must admit I find him over the top when he got drunk at that party night.

Film has some good sceneries spiced up with appropriate music. There are other subplots which may or may not move the story forward. Is there anything else going on between Uncle Leo and David.

Don't miss the last 15 minutes. If you love drama and sexual tension, this is for you...

.......Boiling hot M/M sex scene at its end.....with full frontal added in. (But, what did you expect.....it's Italian)

What we have here is a lush surroundings showcase for one very "hot bod".....in the form of title character, David (tall, dark, first-timer, Thyago Alves). And as the one bedeviled and bedazzled by this youthful sex god, we're given family man, Matteo (Massimo Poggio), a psychiatrist by trade, and a man who the first half of the film goes out of its way to show as being scholarly, but even more so, soulful.

This is a production much like the then well known 1950s era, Douglas Sirk directed, lush and weepy melodramas (see "Magnificent Obsession" or "All That Heaven Allows"). For a more current approach to this genre, see the Todd Haynes written/directed work, and Dennis Quaid's one foray into homosexuality: "Far From Heaven" (2002).

"David's Birthday" is also what I refer to as a "fadeaway" movie, meaning it's something more usually seen from the 1940s through '70s. You know how those went; when anything sexual might begin to transpire, there was always a quick fadeaway to the next scene. For examples of that in this film, consider the following: Putting yourself into the position of a young and gorgeous Calvin Klein-type underwear model (David), you take this still hunky, but older, married man (Matteo) for a Vespa scooter ride.....his unhelmeted head winds up resting softly against your back, his arms clasped tightly around your body. And then nothing further happens for days.......UNTIL a night on the beach, when this young Adonis emerges from a moonlit swim and approaches his walking-on-the-beach "enraptured soul".....both of them then standing together for at least a minute, staring in one another's eyes. UNTIL.......you guessed it: Fadeaway.

Awarded 5-Stars, above.....but perhaps it merits another Star cause I like looking at Matteo.....while most of you will likely prefer to eyeball David.

****

I can't really improve on Jm10701 or Steve222's reviews. This is an overly long soap opera. Yes, the scenery is beautiful and it is easy to catch the mood the director is shooting for since the actors do their jobs well. While I agree with Jm10701 the only person who really stands out is Massimo Poggio (Matteo) I think he had the best part too. It is hard to shine when your lines or part don't. I didn't know what the third couple was there for or the Uncle. Talk about fifth wheels.

Anyway, if you decide to spend almost two hours on this muddled, floundering mess, you may want to know (Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler) - the much anticipated sex scene doesn't occur until the very very last couple minutes. Even this they ruined by cutting away e v e r y second to show Matteo's wife winding her way up the stairs to catch Matteo & David at it. Cut away a little sure, for "suspense." But no, every second. Ruins it.

CONTAINS SPOILERS. Queer themed Italian cinema needs to grow up, this recent entry in the canon is all the further proof we need. Not nearly as god-awful as Ferzan Ozpetek's critically revered and homophobic HAMAM, DAVID'S BIRTHDAY is not immune to the sacrificial lamb syndrome. The "controversial" twist is all in on who will get butchered this time around, because we all know that homosexual desire is harbinger of doom. Slow paced and poorly written, often the case with publicly-funded Italian cinema, the film plays out as a cross pollinated low rent hybrid of Visconti's "Death in Venice" and Malle's "Damage". Such high influences are clearly stated over and over again, but high art - or even simple lyricism - are definitely out of reach for Marco Filiberti's fraudulent hands.

Oooops! You dirty little finger! You bad bad dirty uncle! How come you turned suddenly gay?

Well, bad uncle turns suddenly gay, on the exact inverted ratio this film turns operatic, and just plain bad. Do films this bad get still made? Apparently, so. I for one thought that this kind of muddled film-making was something I left behind in the 80's, when I was a kid: the Mediterranean sea, the sky, the sun and the moon, and some adults scattered like scenery moving among the elements for no great purpose.

Some nice candy though - just the next time make the sex scene longer than the mutilated, really cringing Wagner reference, you conceited amateurs! And make it even bigger and larger, in fact take out all footage of psychotherapy sessions and give us some sex, give some to you, too! Someone in this film hates his analyst, or is in need of one, for there is nothing that rings true concerning the analytic situation.

As it is the only reference (someone mentions Sirk - my foot) - are you ready to cringe? - is some sort of delirious "Death in Venice"...gone south, and turned into "Death to Penis".

Oscar Wilde does it again! "All bad poetry is sincere." So, if you feel like a sincere film, or don't have time enough to bring in any psychotherapeutic association, or the Wagner Society to sue the makers of this film, relax and watch it! I have to admit that in the end, when tragedy happens and naked David brings his hands to his face, covering it in convulsions as if in recognition of the tragedy - THAT was so bad it turned me on. Bad, bad, dirty me.