Children on Their Birthdays

eh, no sex, no profanity, no violence without being too syrupy...that's a pretty good accomplishment. How in the hell did they get this thing funded? Although often overstated and painfully slow at times,I have to say that the young actors-particularly joe pichler and tania raymonde-made the movie emotionally charged,interesting and real. Amazingly enough as young as they are, they're carrying the movie. The adults' side stories although anchored by sheryll lee, chris mcdonald and tom arnold fall a little short and are pretty pointless and not so exciting. This period piece is surely worth seeing and you'll enjoy the cutest innocent love triangle- should I dare to say- you've ever seen set in a picturesque Alabama village of the late 40s during a steaming hot summer.

My wife and I saw this film at a private showing in Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Festival. We thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a delightful, amusing and entertaining movie with a hard edge to it which gives added depth to the story and the period setting. We thought that it was extremely well acted - and special praise must go to the children themselves - very well directed with fine camera work which enriched to period atmosphere. We think audiences will enjoy it greatly.

`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.

I remember being so disappointed that this film never made it into my local theater after seeing the trailer for it played there more than once. Obviously, the theater management did not think such a sweet film, an innocent film, could capture much of an audience. They were wrong. It captured me wholeheartedly. Not only is the movie cinematically beautiful, with a small town backdrop much like that in My Dog Skip, but the characters seem to have been dropped right out of the 1940's. Yes, some might call it schmaltzy, sugary, even overdone in some respects. Lily Jane's overdone accent I found particularly annoying. But Hollywood has done its best to give us the dark side, the horrific side, the characters filled with malice and malevolence. I find this film so refreshing and well acted as well. Using mostly unknowns makes the film feel even more comfortable. The characters are on an even playing field and each contributes more than his share. Children on Their Birthdays tells a simple story of growing up, mending fences, finding our way in a world which can be a very cynical place. But the children here give us hope that if their innocence can translate into tenderheartedness as adults, maybe we have a shot at a better tomorrow after all.

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.