Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Kirpianuscus it seems be a sketch. or mix of fairy tale and ordinary existential crisis. simple, convincing and beautiful. a delicate drawing more than a film. because it is a story of metamorphose. a story of new, fundamental beginning. and few admirable scenes - the young painter and the sparrow as model, the tension between Gary and his wife in on - line talk as good examples - are splendid portraits of deep solitude and the profound desire to escape from yourself. it is difficult to pledge for it. not only because the taste of each viewer is different but because the symbols, used as steps to the last scenes, has different translations for each of us. short, a real beautiful film. remembering "Anomalisa".

mason95135 I discovered this film by chance and when I watched the trailer I imagined a film about a man who is disenchanted with life, who feels a vague emptiness and leaves it all behind and forms an unusual connection, quasi-romance with the maid whom is a dreamer and a man whose dreams and love for life long ago died. Akin to Lost in Translation.This is not the case! The film is nothing like what one imagines and does in fact involve bird people; although I will not spoil it. It is hard to rate Bird People as it does not fall in line with a traditional film. It does not fall under any genre; although it would be easy to see it as a observation of the ills of "modern" life; modernity and technology in the film fulfills the background not focus. It is a surprising movie and one that will leave an impression on you. I highly recommend it!.

bvilches I love French cinema, I love movies that focus on characters rather than action but this is too much. I watched 20 minutes and I couldn't bear it anymore. I tried to give it time so something can developer but nothing happens, really. There's no action whatsoever, no explanation, background voice appears from nowhere, the characters don't seem to have any motivation to do what they do... come on!If you want a 10 minute scene about room cleaning, go ahead and watch it.Oh, and the bird equals freedom cliché it's so obvious that it's annoying!

mamlukman Saw this tonight at TIFF. Piers gave his usual pretentious introduction. I guess my reaction is WTF? It starts off fine, with interesting scenes of the airport…but are we supposed to follow one of these people we see? No. Is there a point to the long introduction? I think not. Then it switches to Audrey on the subway and bus, but a much shorter segment. So then we launch into this big story about Gary Newman (name has no significance according to the director-- she just chose a name that sounded common). Gary quits his job, marriage, children, house, etc. after thinking it over in a sleepless night. No real reason, just that he "feels like a melting sugar cube." Don't we all? So then there is a series of telephone calls with Gary's partners, lawyer, etc. Will this go anywhere in terms of advancing the story? No. Then a much, much longer Skype talk with his wife, Radha Mitchell (one of my favorites). Does this advance the story? No. Then all of a sudden we drop Gary and we focus on Audrey the maid. We know we're switching since "Audrey" appears in a heading on the screen. Subtle. So she gets some overtime, is invited to a party she doesn't go to, tells her father she spent the day at the university when she spent it being a maid at the hotel, and finally we are treated to watching her clean a couple rooms. Suddenly the power goes out, she goes up to the roof, feels that she is falling, and poof, she has turned into a sparrow. Then the sparrow flies around talking to itself and having various adventures. Then the bird turns back into Audrey, she gets on the elevator with Gary, and they have a conversation about "Personne" meaning both "no one" and "a person"--opposite meanings in the same word. Gary asks her what the opposite of this word would be in French. "Pareil" (the same) she says. (If this is the key to the movie, then I don't know how to turn it.) Then they shake hands. Fin.Maybe I missed everything about this movie, maybe not. Yeah, sure, it was technology vs. magic dream state. Sort of. But you know what? Audrey uses modern technology too. A lot of stuff about open windows…which means? Freedom? The best I can come up with is that they are both searching for a better life and looking for freedom. Otherwise, they seem to be random stories that have nothing to do with each other. And if there is an "ending" it eludes me. I'm adding this to my growing list of French films I find incomprehensible. I will say that Anais (Audrey) is cute, so she makes it watchable when she's on screen.Finally, you could also make the case that this whole movie is an extended ad for Marlboros. Everyone smokes--everyone. At every chance they get. They borrow cigarettes. The buy cigarettes. Every time they hold the cigarette box or put it down, we're treated to a closeup of the box and brand name. I guess my question here is how much money did Marlboro pay to get this sort of exposure? Why do we pay to see an ad?