A SQUANDERED OPPORTUNITY
Birthmarked preoccupied with its quirky details, but the storytelling is just mediocre
There is a 1967 experimental Danish film called The Perfect Human, in which a man and a woman function in a white featureless room as subjects in a zoo. They are cold, detached and ordinary; they are perfect. The film suggests that broad ideals of what it means to be a perfect person will turn to a kind of robotic absence, an aloof approach to living in which we are vessels for experience and knowledge in service of a greater purpose.
In Birthmarked, two scientists believe that nurture wins out over nature, and given the right guidance, we all have the potential to be perfect. But instead of aspiring toward the white bland perfection of The Perfect Human, their curated environment is more like chaotic clutter.
In the winter of 1989, Ben (Matthew Goode) and Catherine (Toni Collette) are 12 years deep into their revolutionary study. They are raising their three
children contrary to their genetic disposition, in the hopes of entering the scientific pantheon. Their biological son Luke (Jordan Poole) is raised to be an artist; their daughter Maya (Megan O’Kelly), adopted from a family of “idiots,” is brought up to be an intellectual; and their son Maurice (Anton Gillis-Adelman), adopted from a family with a history of violence, is taught to be a pacifist. Six months short of the unveiling though, the project’s wealthy benefactor warns them that their results are mediocre and their children unexceptional. They have half a year to shape up, or they will void their contract and be forced to pay back his million-dollar investment.
Birthmarked is a quirky dramedy with hints of Wes Anderson. Told with a dry voice-over and art direction that doubles as a “Dads are the Original Hipsters” lookbook, Birthmarked has a certain niche appeal. In spite of some great costume and design elements though, the film lacks a strong visual identity, existing in an overcast limbo of dull greys and tweed browns. It is a film preoccupied with quirky details, like Ben’s equestrian fetish and Russian cuisine, that often feel overwrought rather than meaningful.
Featuring one of the best casts of the year, the actors are ultimately let down by mediocre storytelling. Goode channels a young Jordan Peterson in sweatpants and Collette gets a lot of mileage out of her ability to smile in despair.
In supporting roles, local talents like Suzanne Clément and Andreas Apergis succeed at imprinting some personality onto the film but they’re not always tonally aligned with the rest of the movie either, representative of an overall unevenness. The performances are good, but fail to bring dimensionality to a surface-level script.
Too quaint to be relatable and too generic to be stylistic, Birthmarked lands in a wide berth of indie films that fall between bad and mediocre. While it doesn’t have any obviously embarrassing moments, it doesn’t have any standouts either. The film might have a compelling premise but doesn’t delve into the nuances or particularities it hints at, beyond the cute message that family is more important than ego. Birthmarked is not awful by any means, but it is certainly forgettable.