The success of The Invite as a buzzy watercooler production is a reminder that films don’t need Greek gods or costumed heroes to get people talking: sometimes they just need conversation. It would be great if some of the hype surrounding Olivia Wilde’s terrific chamber piece rubbed off on The Birthday Trip, an admittedly very different kind of black comedy – more tart, and with a greater sense of unease – though the two films share some obvious similarities. To wit: well-off middle-class couples locked in tense bickering, and driven by the film-maker’s clear love of dialogue being the ultimate dramatic catalyst.
The Birthday Trip is the feature debut of James Robert Woods, who wrote, directed, produced, shot and edited it, signalling quite the hyphenate. Set on a luxury farmstay in the New South Wales southern highlands, Woods has cited The White Lotus, Triangle of Sadness and Melancholia as influences – all thematically linked as stories of privilege under pressure. Like them, The Birthday Trip isn’t interested in wealth itself but in entitlement and the power imbalances always lingering just beneath the surface. If this sounds heavy, the staging is disarmingly accessible and character-driven.
