Metacritic reviews

As Birds of Paradise reveals its (admittedly predictable) secrets one by one, it does so with style and a merited sense of confidence so assertively that even the biggest skeptics of the genre might pause before dismissing it as just another slight YA entry.

Whatever compromises were required of Smith, she holds fast to the soul of a movie that ultimately cares less about how high Kate and Marine can fly than it does the exotic truths they might only be able to learn as they fall.

Froseth and Silvers keep both of their complicated characters and the bond that lies between them grounded, mixing well with the sensual tone Smith has created. Those looking for a sexy, intriguing drama might be happy to call up Birds of Paradise for some nighttime viewing.

Seth’s cinematography is stunning, meeting the mood of each contrasting moment but set within a cohesive look that gives the film a dreamy, unreal quality.

While the film’s more artistic sequences feel out of place and not entirely thought through, Diana Silvers and Kristine Froseths’ performances make the ballet dram compelling, though not entirely en pointe.

Birds of Paradise, then, settles into a weird, slightly unsettling middle-ground – beautiful yet hollow, intriguing yet distanced, skillfully performed without much of a beating heart. Like its principal dancers, its a portrait of contrasts, though the friction here doesn’t generate much heat.

The dance sequences, what few there are, have more daring to them than the plot of the picture. The back-stabbing and bonding and breaking down are all so tame that you wonder why they bothered.

Structured around a countdown to the ultimate prize, the story is a soapy slog of sabotage and betrayal. Sex and drugs are as prevalent as pliés, the absence of a likable character as irksome as the constant conniving.

The real problem is that the film isn’t trashy, soapy, or stylized enough be fun.

Birds of Paradise lacks the nuance and finesse needed for its story to really take flight.