Children on Their Birthdays

Somewhere, in an alternate reality, it could be possible for a 13-year-old girl to have the wisdom of a Socrates, the social awareness of a Martin Luther King, the vocabulary and diction of a college professor, and the grace and beauty of an Audrey Hepburn. On the other hand, putting adult lines in the mouth of a child is usually done for satire. Situation comedies often depend for their gags on having kids speak smart-alecky lines. Hearing wisecracks from a kid that no kid would ever think of makes us laugh, and that's why the formula works. In this case, however, it isn't a comedy, and the lines written for the child are not intended to be amusing.

Of course, no such alternate world exists, but what if it did? And what if such a girl turned up in the reality of a small southern town circa 1947? She would be as foreign and alien to that locality as if she had come from another universe, and in that sense becomes a kind of allegorical figure of redemption. It is presented as a "coming of age" film, but this is not just a story about the normal agonies of growing up. There is a "Twilight Zone" quality to the character of the girl. There are two boys who are "supposed" to be her age, and hence there is a sub-plot concerned with their feelings for her. But psycho-emotionally she is light-years more mature than they, and that is a point most reviewers seem to miss. It isn't so much about youth growing up over a case of first love, but a myth about a daughter of the gods sojourning among the mortals for a season.

Truman Capote, who wrote the original short-story from which this film was adapted, was something of a heretic, and it is tempting to speculate on what the screenwriter might have been thinking in regard to this character. For example: What if Jesus came back in 1947 in the form of a little girl? Wouldn't "that" be a surprise? Not that there is anything about the story to suggest such a "religious" quality, but the character of the girl is clearly mythical in comparison to her alleged contemporaries. She comes into town mysteriously, there are miraculous events associated with her actions, she is wise beyond her years and even the elders are astonished by her words. It is a different story, and a pretty good one as well.

I rented the DVD because I was simply in the mood to watch a movie, and I'd seen almost everything else new that hadn't already been rented out. So I gave "Children on Their Birthdays" a shot, not expecting too much.

I was surprised to discover that I really enjoyed it. In fact, the day after I had watched it, I found myself thinking about the characters and smiling. So I bought the DVD and have watched it several times since then.

I won't go into a detailed description, because that's already been done. But the characters are endearing. Despite a forced southern accent by Miss Lily Jane Bobbit, she is still the centerpiece of the movie. All the children performed wonderfully.

The movie is a study in contrasts: Honesty vs. dishonesty, rural vs. urban, child vs. adult, etc. Overall, it's a movie deserving of a higher rating than it has received.

I gave it an 8.

`Children on their Birthdays' is not meant to tax your cranium or exercise your sense of adventure; rather, to take you on a gentle stroll through the (not quite) coming of age of four thirteen-year-olds in 1940's Alabama. Joe Pichler and Jesse Plemmons demonstrate some real versatility in portraying the two young friends/rivals and Tania Raymonde delivers a dose of the same smarts and mystery she's done on TV in "Malcolm in the Middle". You can take your young kids to this one. It supplies plenty of tenderness and a little slapstick as the kids and the town get mixed around with romance, snake oil, some amazingly hardy roses and a really fine old red tow truck.

Watching a movie like this that turns out to be a disaster is a strange experience. It's "based" on one of Truman Capote's early short stories. Well, it has the title and characters and setting. The story? Bits and pieces of it.

What's good= If there were an Oscar given for Best Location Scout, this would have won it. The houses and stores are amazing and there are lots of old cars. There's also some great (with the exception of a Celine Dion song that comes out of nowhere) music, using lots of songs from the Big Band era. Ditto costumes and hairstyles.

What's bad= Almost everything else. There are too many situations that had me and Mrs. Bear simply rolling our eyes. But the worst thing is the heavy "Southern" accents the actors have. On stage, they could have gotten away with this. But film is a terribly unforgiving medium in that you've got actors standing on real streets in front of real houses. Director Mark Medoff is a hugely talented writer, having won a Tony Award for CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD. What possessed a writer from Illinois, shooting in great locations in his home state, to think he could handle the speech patterns of the rural South? I recently saw an independent film called NOBLE THINGS, which was set and filmed in the Beaumont, Texas, area. Because its director couldn't afford a lot of Hollywood actors he hired actors from Houston and Beaumont and their speech patterns were natural and unaffected.

At best, CHILDREN ON THEIR BIRTHDAYS is a noble effort gone bad. At worst, its abject financial failure (less than $60 thousand returned on a $10 million investment, although it made some more return on investment through DVD and cable)gives Hollywood an excuse to pump out more sequels, more unwanted remakes, and more ultra violent comic book movies. Maybe I should go back and reduce that rating of 3 even lower.

This sweet and touching adaptation of Truman Capote's coming-of-age short story takes place in 1947 Alabama. The cinematography, locations, and music skillfully help set the stage for a time when reading books or listening to the radio were a major source of entertainment. World War II veterans were attempting to return to their former lives, war-widows were still dealing with their losses, and Jim Crow was a legal reality. Into this setting steps Lily Jane Bobbit, a 13-year old with ideas of her own as to how the world should work.

The story includes the blush of first love, friendships that see no colors, and actions and words that come from the heart. In this era of movies relying heavily on violence, profanity, car chases, and sex to hold your interest, this movie is a refreshing change of pace. It's a lovingly crafted film that's a treat for the whole family.