The Ornithologist (2016)

Simply Perfect

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

It's kind of difficult to describe this film, but the one word that comes easily is frustrating. I am Catholic so I did get the religious references and but that was not enough to make this film worth the time or effort. The director peppered the action with random interesting developments spaced throughout, each getting my hopes up that some kind of story was developing, only to be disappointed each time. I'm happy that some viewers really seemed to enjoy this film, but unfortunately it was one frustrating disappointment after the other for me.

I thought, from the plot synopsis, this was going to be a supernatural thriller. It was neither. What it was was part nature film (the only part I enjoyed at all) and part something else that I can't even describe. It was making some kind of statement on religion, but I honestly couldn't even tell if it was positive or negative. Perhaps you have to be a native to Portugal to understand it to any degree. Regardless, whatever statement it was making was being made in a very trudging manner. I wouldn't even recommend this to people who enjoy bad movies. Perhaps it's something you could torture your enemies with though.

You can't watch "The Ornithologist" as a traditional movie. You have to instead approach it as you would a poem, just opening yourself up to sensations and images to see what they might say to you.I can and have really enjoyed this kind of movie watching -- I'm thinking of a film like "Last Year at Marienbad" or any number of David Lynch's movies. But they have to be done extremely well to work, and "The Ornithologist" just isn't.The motifs in this film are largely either sexual or religious/spiritual. A bird watcher finds himself lost in the wilderness when his canoe capsizes. He's captured by two fellow hikers who intend to castrate him as part of some strange ritual, but he escapes. He comes across some random dude and has sex with him on the beach before stabbing him. He comes across some other dudes dressed like birds and engaging in some kind of midnight bacchanalia. Toward the end, the actor playing this man is replaced by the actual film's director. Along the way, the director shows shot after shot of birds when he seemingly has nothing else to do or say, and sometimes we even get shots of the protagonist from the birds' perspectives.Of course one will be tempted to impose meaning on all of this randomness and will probably be frustrated by the film's resistance to making that task easy. I was fine just going along for the ride, but once I realized this film wasn't saying much to me, I gave up on it and stopped caring much about anything happening on screen. It doesn't help that I'm not a remotely religious person, and that the strong religious themes in the movie meant nothing to me. Perhaps someone who is more interested in the big questions surrounding God and faith would find more to enjoy, but I'll never know.Grade: D

I went along with partner as it was his date idea ( we take it in in turns) so trusted it might be OK and wanted to be surprised so didn't read the synopsis (last time I do this), We are birdwatchers so knew it wasn't a documentary however, didn't expect it to become so warped with 45 mins. In my daily work, I listen to people's stories and however, the characters we meet ie the two clueless Christian? Chinese girls just doesn't ring true. The elaborate knots they tie the Portuguese ornithologist in, seems highly unlikely as they are lost and walk around in a beautiful fresh air forest with masks on???? really??? what's wrong with fresh air, you're in nature. After an hour and a suggestion they would casterate him the next day, that was it for me, I left the theatre. Honestly, don't waste ur time and money. what a waste of film.