ODD BIRDS
A film review by Jeff Meyer
Copyright 1987 Jeff Meyer
Seen at the Seattle Film Festival: ODD BIRDS (USA, 1986) Director/Screenwriter: Jeanne Collachia Cast: Michael Moriarty, Donna Lei Ming Lew, Nancy Yee
Ever have a film that, upon panning it, makes you feel like Snidely Whiplash? Makes you feel as if you tripped Shirley Temple and were proceeding to kick her in her little ribs? Well, I'm going to have to give "thumbs down" to ODD BIRDS, and I don't like having to do it very much, because the film has some good concepts and some nice acting, ruined by awful technical work and an ending that has to be seen to be believed.
This is a slice of life picture about a fifteen-year-old girl (Ming Lew) who is shy and withdrawn, but who desperately wishes to go into acting. Her mother (Yee), who immigrated from China, constantly informs her that her ambitions are "pipe-dreams"; and, having no friends and the average amount of confidence a 15-year-old has, she begins to have doubts about whether she should attempt acting, based on both her mother's assertions that "you have to know somebody", and an ever-growing assumption that a girl of Chinese descent could not get a leading role which is not written specifically for someone Oriental.
Then, at a sock-hop at a Catholic boy's school that she is dragged to by her with-it cousin, she meets an Irish Catholic brother (Moriarty) whom she strikes up a friendship with, and who she finds it easy to talk with. He becomes her one friend, and builds her confidence by listening to her fears and dreams. However, his leaving for a new school, along with an audition with Gower Champion (who is, I guess, somewhat of a big-shot in the musical world), bring her emotions to the fore.
The film is fine when it takes on the emotions and problems of a girl going through this particular stage in her life; the dialogue between Ming Lew and Moriarty, and between Ming Lew and Yee, rings very true to form. Lew is usually good for the role, and Michael Moriarty has always been, to my mind, one of the hidden treasures of the American acting community; he continues to grace small films like this (or weird films like Q or THE STUFF) like an undiscovered Lithgow.
Where the film falls down is in the technical direction. The film is supposed to be set in San Francisco in 1966; however, the way the film *looks* makes you wonder if it was actually *done* in 1966. The cinematography is so standard that it looks like it was done by someone from the Health Services Film Board. The music is incredibly overblown during emotional scenes. One of the girl's main talents is her singing voice, but the dubbing is so inept here that it is impossible to ignore, no matter how badly you wish to. And the ending--cripes, where did they get it? It is so hokey and done without so little care, that it resembles the "pipe dream" mentioned by the mother at the beginning of the film. Everyone grins like idiots while the girl gets a special chance to sing for Champion, who of course says "You're fantastic! Get some training and then come see me!" O-kay. This could have been done adequately, but everyone is so over-enthusiastic that you wonder if they were shipped in from an old MGM musical.
Overall, a D, $1 movie. Good, but fatally scarred.
Now to find some babies to steal lollypops from...
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
INTERNET: moriarty@fluke.COM
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