Birth (2004) – 6.7

An intriguing, admirable failure.  Nicole Kidman plays Anna, a wealthy widow who is soon to re-marry when a ten-year-old boy (played by a creepy, unblinking Cameron Bright) appears on her doorstep claiming to be her dead husband.  The film is ultimately bogged down by numerous logical inconsistencies and a bafflingly simplistic resolution, but director Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast) manages a number of small masterstrokes, including the film’s sustained moody elegance – underscored by Alexandre Desplat’s haunting music – and the opening scene, a magnificent tracking shot of a man running in a snowy Central Park.  Kidman is also mesmerizing: Her cropped red hair and deliberately styled wardrobe evoke Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby, but unlike Farrow, Kidman is a real actress, and her lovely, hooded eyes, clouded by uncertainty, convey more emotional depth than her thinly written character deserves.  Also features Anne Heche, thin-lipped and irksome as ever, and Danny Huston as Anna’s indignant fiance.