The Birthday Cake Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

The Birthday Cake Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 4, 2022

As far as "Mob" movies go, The Birthday Cake is one of the shortest, one of the most confounding, and one of the most star-packed. There are probably more, but this jumble of a movie can't seem to fall into line, from the flashback beginning to the confusingly twisted finale. From Writer and first-time Director Jimmy Giannopoulos comes a film that aims to be the next great Mob movie but struggles to build a coherent plot and purpose as its character shuffles through a night of various meetings and confrontations, only to see the movie reach a climax that is at once both cool and confounding within the larger The Birthday Cake jumble of a narrative.

On the tenth anniversary of his father's death, Gio (Shiloh Fernandez), as is family tradition, is tasked with delivering a cake in his father's honor to the extended family, including family patriarch Uncle Angelo (Val Kilmer). Gio, living under his deceased father's shadow, navigates the mean streets and is dogged by questions about his missing cousin Leo. As he draws closer to his family, he slowly pieces together dark secrets that will expose him to truths about his father and his family that he could have never imagined, let along be directly involved in.

Throughout the film, the name "Leo" dogs Gio, and this almost mythical character becomes something akin to a MacGuffin as Gio navigates a broad cross section of cops, robbers, friends, and foes who all have Leo's name on the tips of their tongues. "Leo" drives the plot as much as Gio's journey to deliver the cake to his extended family, a family in which he does not necessarily fit. Gio seems almost out of place through it all, a young man who has grown up on the rougher side of life and under his deceased father's shadow. It is by association rather than by choice that he is a part of a dark, seedy underbelly of a world from which he cannot escape. As the journey wears on, Gio experiences a number of events from a number of perspectives that all seem to have him, and Leo, in the middle of a story he cannot fully comprehend and a story he would rather not be a part of.

Or so it seems. That is an initial takeaway of The Birthday Cake, and truth be told the film probably requires a second watch to fully appreciate its twist third act reveal and the driving forces behind it. Unfortunately, the film just doesn't warrant another watch, even if another watch might allow for it to be more expressive in the who's, the what's, the when's, the where's, and the why's. The film's first hour struggles to achieve narrative cohesion, exploring a number of leads that either trace back to "Leo" and Gio (and his father's death) or simply go nowhere (Gio's flirtation with a young lady) and there's not enough of a satisfactory bonding of these pieces until the end, which, shocking as it may be, doesn't seem to offer any substantial insight as to why the audience went on this journey with these characters in the first place. It's more frustrating than it is fulfilling, and even for the twist reveal the lead up to it cannot, at least on first watch, offer the sort of vicelike grip the twist really needs to make it worthwhile.

The film is populated by a stellar cast of who's-who in various levels of plot critical roles. Actors like Luis Guzman earn smaller parts (in his case as a cab driver) that don't add much to the story (and in his case, at least, only draw the viewer out of the story, saying "there's Luis" rather than trying to sort out the domestic disturbance playing out in the back of his cab). The Sopranos alums Lorraine Bracco and Vincent Pastore make an immediate impact in their scenes. Val Kilmer plays a peculiar character whose dialogue must be subtitled because of a previous neck wound (and his real-life battle with the aftereffects of throat cancer). Jimmy Giannopoulos directs in an oftentimes cramped style and has a peculiar fascination with shooting from the back of a character's head, revealing only a small portion of their face.

The Birthday Cake Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Birthday Cake struggles to hold serve on Blu-ray. The picture is moderately sharp and adequately detailed, but there is nothing here to boost the image above a baseline "respectable" rating. It's flat, the digital source is not of the highest grade, and the picture languishes around unassuming textures that, especially in lower light and inside -- much of the movie -- can't muster up any seriously stout visuals. Colors are likewise uninspired, even some of the more intense lights seen in darkened city streets and particularly during a key scene late in the movie involving Gio and William Fichtner's character, Uncle Ricardo. Blacks are soupy and skin tones are pasty. Noise is prevalent and dense. A little aliasing (an overhead shot at the 22:12 mark) is in evidence and a few shots reveal severe macroblocking, such as a shot at the 41:28 mark.

The Birthday Cake Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Birthday Cake includes two soundtracks: LPCM 2.0 uncompressed and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless. The 5.1 track offers the fuller experience, of course, though neither track is particularly aggressive. The modest surround engagement helps to better define the scene and the mood, but the picture is largely straightforward and dialogue-driven, which beyond some shallowness in the early minutes during a flashback to Gio's youth is generally clear, balanced, and stable from the front-center position (and nicely imaged in 2.0). Score is appropriately wide and clarity is solid though surround and subwoofer integration are not of paramount importance. Gunfire and a few other would-be more intense extracurriculars fail to elicit much of a response in either track, and the lack of depth in 5.1 is particularly disappointing. The tracks are both serviceable; 5.1 is the better listen for the superior engagement, though both get the job done and listeners won't be missing on a substantial add to the experience when choosing 2.0.

The Birthday Cake Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of The Birthday Cake contains no supplemental content. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

The Birthday Cake Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Somewhere buried deep inside, mixed up with all of the other ingredients, is a solid core idea. Unfortunately, The Birthday Cake isn't able to make an appealing finished product as it stumbles about trying to make sense of Gio's dark past and his ominous role in his family's present. There's not enough here to engage the audience and hold its attention for the surprising finale. A solid cast gives lower collective efforts for a movie that struggles to find its gear. Screen Media's featureless Blu-ray delivers adequate video and audio. No supplements are included. Skip it.