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Birdy

1984

Alan Parker

Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage, John Harkins, Sandy Baron ...

7.0

5,438

Drama "Birdy" is a guy from Philadelphia, a Vietnam vet hospitalized for postwar trauma. Lying in a state of amentia, Birdy (Matthew Modine) fantasizes about birds in flight, an obsession that has haunted him since childhood. Now this fascination acts as a barrier to reality and the pain of his years in Vietnam. After doctors’ efforts fail to cure him, his childhood friend Al (Nicolas Cage)--also a discharged soldier nursing wounds from the ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times	"The strangest thing about Birdy which is a very strange and beautiful movie indeed, is that it seems to work best at its looniest level, and is least at ease with the things it takes most seriously. Read full review (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Variety Staff Variety	Belying the lightheartedness of its title, Birdy is a heavy adult drama about best friends and the after-effects of war, but it takes too long to live up to its ambitious premise. Read full review	NEU
United Kingdom	Time Out	A trifle self-indulgent - well, it is directed by Alan Parker - but never boring	POS
United States	Paul Attanasio The Washington Post	Some of director Alan Parker's compositions here are striking (...)Then again, they're all the same -- after two hours, you're bored by them"	NEU
United States	TV Guide	Birdy is one of those rare movies that successfully brings a psychological novel to the screen without sacrificing its saliency or complexity. Read full review	POS
United States	Pauline Kael The New Yorker	Directed by Alan Parker, the movie takes itself inordinately seriously as a moral fable expressing eternal truths. It feels morose and unrelieved, despite the efforts of the two actors.	NEU
United Kingdom	William Thomas Empire	"Despite the film's heavily symbolic tone, little is revealed about either of the characters or indeed the Vietnam War (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Janet Maslin The New York Times	Mr. Modine's performance is exceptionally sweet and graceful; Mr. Cage very sympathetically captures Al's urgency and frustration. Together, these actors work miracles with what might have been unplayable	POS

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