cabellwalter CONTAINS SPOILERS. Queer themed Italian cinema needs to grow up, this recent entry in the canon is all the further proof we need. Not nearly as god-awful as Ferzan Ozpetek's critically revered and homophobic HAMAM, DAVID'S BIRTHDAY is not immune to the sacrificial lamb syndrome. The "controversial" twist is all in on who will get butchered this time around, because we all know that homosexual desire is harbinger of doom. Slow paced and poorly written, often the case with publicly-funded Italian cinema, the film plays out as a cross pollinated low rent hybrid of Visconti's "Death in Venice" and Malle's "Damage". Such high influences are clearly stated over and over again, but high art - or even simple lyricism - are definitely out of reach for Marco Filiberti's fraudulent hands.

donwc1996 Maybe it's because I'm Italian but this Italian film is absolutely brilliant. Anyone who says otherwise obviously doesn't get it based on what the various reviews here say. Nor is this film for the faint of heart or the weak of mind. It is stimulating, thoughtful, and very intense because you never know what will happen next, a true sign of a great film. It keeps you at the edge of your seat biting your fingernails. But any film that begins with a Wagner opera is nothing to sneeze at and if you don't get Wagner you won't get this film either. Visually, it is nothing less than stunning, in fact may very well be the most beautiful film I have ever seen. The eroticism is unprecedented, true art, done so perfect that I sat there with my mouth open because it never borders on the vulgar. The cast is sublime, just about the most perfect casting you can imagine.

Michael Built on the theme of ill-fated love, this film merges modern cinema with opera and emerges with a hybrid which infuses the viewer with a morality tale under two hours duration. Emotional theatrics reveal the frayed and tattered mental state of these two couples as both attempt to keep the appearances of functional family ties and friendships. While some USA viewers may find the emotional intensity "over the top," I find it similar to the emotional intensity that was infused into American Western genre when it went Italian and added an operatic theme to the story-telling. While no bullets are flying in a "pulp fiction" sensational style, the emotional content and the poignant plot climax enliven a rather dull scenario of viewing yet another "Doing Time on Maple Drive" clone-film with subtitles.

arizona-philm-phan .......Boiling hot M/M sex scene at its end.....with full frontal added in. (But, what did you expect.....it's Italian)What we have here is a lush surroundings showcase for one very "hot bod".....in the form of title character, David (tall, dark, first-timer, Thyago Alves). And as the one bedeviled and bedazzled by this youthful sex god, we're given family man, Matteo (Massimo Poggio), a psychiatrist by trade, and a man who the first half of the film goes out of its way to show as being scholarly, but even more so, soulful.This is a production much like the then well known 1950s era, Douglas Sirk directed, lush and weepy melodramas (see "Magnificent Obsession" or "All That Heaven Allows"). For a more current approach to this genre, see the Todd Haynes written/directed work, and Dennis Quaid's one foray into homosexuality: "Far From Heaven" (2002)."David's Birthday" is also what I refer to as a "fadeaway" movie, meaning it's something more usually seen from the 1940s through '70s. You know how those went; when anything sexual might begin to transpire, there was always a quick fadeaway to the next scene. For examples of that in this film, consider the following: Putting yourself into the position of a young and gorgeous Calvin Klein-type underwear model (David), you take this still hunky, but older, married man (Matteo) for a Vespa scooter ride.....his unhelmeted head winds up resting softly against your back, his arms clasped tightly around your body. And then nothing further happens for days.......UNTIL a night on the beach, when this young Adonis emerges from a moonlit swim and approaches his walking-on-the-beach "enraptured soul".....both of them then standing together for at least a minute, staring in one another's eyes. UNTIL.......you guessed it: Fadeaway.Awarded 5-Stars, above.....but perhaps it merits another Star cause I like looking at Matteo.....while most of you will likely prefer to eyeball David.****