QUOTE OF THE DAY: Thomson on Birth

"It's the story of Anna, whose husband dies, jogging in the snow in Central park. For 10 years she mourns and then she agrees to marry again. But at the engagement party a boy appears, and tells her he is her husband. Anna laughs, but the boy is serious, and gradually the occult idea breaks down her sanity or security. I won't say more about the story, or what the film means, but as directed by Jonathan Glazer (he made Sexy Beast – which you may have seen), this is a mysterious and haunting study of emotional insecurity. Nicole Kidman is Anna, and if you have ever doubted her, this is the film to see. For a few years I have been doing all I can to get everyone to see Birth. Try it – you will see, and you won't believe anyone got away with making a film like this." — David Thomson on Birth 

I'm not sure about the stuff about emotional insecurity, but I, too, have been dragging people to this film since I first saw it in 2004. The story has the thematic purview of the more thoughtful type of horror film (Rosemary's Baby, Don't Look Now, The Sixth Sense), the roiling emotions of a Puccini opera, and is shot with the spooky, poker-faced imperturbability of a Midwich cuckoo. It's one of those films you fear you might have dreamed — true limbic brain cinema.