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Hafsia Herzi, Bastien Bouillon, Monica Bellucci, Benoît Magimel, and the promising young talent Tawba El Gharchi feature in Léa Mysius's latest thriller. Our David Caballero has just watched it at the Festival de Cannes and shares his first impressions right after leaving the theatre.
"Hi friends, I'm at the 79th Festival de Cannes, and this year we get to see more in-competition films, and that's always interesting, and I just left the Debussy Theatre, where I watched Histoires de la Nuit, sorry for my French, which is being translated to The Birthday Party."
"Don't ask me why yet, you will see because if I tell you it's a spoiler, and it's by Léa Mysius, the director.
And it's a mixture between a thriller and a mystery, we could say, it keeps building tension, it's very compact, it's very self-contained, you don't get to travel much, and it's about the family surrounding Ida, I would say the protagonist, this, I think it's 10-11 year old kid, and well, it didn't keep me on my toes for the whole duration of the film, but I have to say the final third nailed it, or at least made it worth it, to me, in my opinion. At times it looks a little bit like the Tarantino way of building tension, and at other times it has a very personal touch to it, and I like that, precisely."
"And one of the side characters is Monica Bellucci, and I really liked her usual stoic approach to her part.
Without getting into spoiler territory, the plot is about extortion and redemption, it gets a little bit twisted, and it's really loud in how it presents the shocking moments, and with the sound specifically.
It's also a bit weird in some parts, and it's got a couple of interesting twists to it, and it also knows how to get silly, and I kind of like the humor to it."
"So yeah, I will write my full review, and you will be able to read it at your local Gamereactor site.
But I have to say, it's an okay flick, it's interesting, I enjoyed it, I don't think it can compete for the Palm d'Or, even if it's in competition, but I think you won't waste your time if you watch it."
