‘Fantastic Birthday’: the good surprise movie of Wednesday

What a freedom in this first film! The strength of the Australian Rosemary Myers is expressed in her choice not to be trapped in any genre, but to swing easily from the registry of the vintage comedy to that of the fantastic film, passing by the tale for (big) children. “Fantastic Birthday” is the story of a teenager who refuses to celebrate her fifteenth birthday. It all begins with the arrival of the shy Greta in a new college where, far from attracting the friendship of the famous “popular pupils”, she disguises, as a friend, a kid in shorts tartignolle. Alas! Her ridiculous parents are keen to organize a big kitsch party in her honor, where she can invite all friends … she does not! Then the teenager appeals to his imagination. And suddenly, while we think we are installed in a comedy gentillette, arise on the other side of the garden monsters strangely attified. These are the ghostly duplicates of family members, but it is also the representation of the fears of childhood when it comes to begin the transition to adulthood. The brio of the haircuts owes something to John Waters’ “Hairspray”, the disturbing strangeness of the night evokes David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet”, and the intelligence of cutting Wes Anderson’s films. However, if Rosemary Myers’s story is profoundly original, it is because the director comes to us from the theater and the musical, from where she brings back lights, songs, choreographies and a great, very delightful grand- guignoleque side. When the cinema astonishes, it is won.