Week 42 – The Birdcage (1996)

• The Birdcage
• Released: 3/8/1996
• Starring: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest, Hank Azaria, Dan Futterman, Calista Flockhart, Christine Baranski
• Director: Mike Nichols
• IMDB Page

Welcome back! It’s time for another exciting installment of 52 Films, 52 Portraits! This week’s film was chosen by my youngest cousin, Max! Max just graduated High School last month (making him the youngest participant in this project!) and is heading to Philadelphia University in the Fall to study fashion design and textile design.

Max, with most of his family, including (clockwise) brothers Kevin and Samuel, his dad, Mark, and his mother, Sally. Oldest brother, Drew, not pictured.

When we discussed films in general, Max told me that he always considered himself to be a big fan – and sometimes critic – of films. He went as far as to say that he considered film to be the “current most accurate form of storytelling,” though he did caveat this with the fact that he believes theater is a close second.

Max said that he can remember walking into the living room during the Christmas season at our grandparents’ house, where his brothers and cousins (myself included) would be in the middle of a film. He would sit down to watch with us and be instantly transported into new worlds. He said that he specifically remembers the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films making a lasting impression on him as a child. Later on in life, this love of film grew to include television. He remembers stumbling upon the rather cinematic sci fi epic series Lost, and immediately falling in love with it.

Max’s love for Lost is not surprising, given that he immediately followed up talking about the show by telling me that his favorite film genre is science fiction, although he did add that he loves a good comedy every now and then as well. He also said that he is often drawn to Tim Burton/Johnny Depp films. He said that he is really drawn to the unique perspective Burton brings to his films. He told me that the “shift of reality and constant overplayed drama” is something that keeps him coming back to films that Burton creates.

When I asked Max whether he had considered any other films, he told me that he originally wanted to choose something in the action/adventure/sci fi genres, because that is what he is usually drawn to, but ultimately decided to go with The Birdcage for a few different reasons. He told me that The Birdcage is a film that has meant a lot to him for a long time, and that meaning has only intensified since Robin Williams passed away. To Max, The Birdcage is a moving comedy that manages to keep the laughs coming while also providing a very clear message. He said that, in his opinion, the film’s message is that everyone comes from different backgrounds. It opens with two families who are complete opposites of each other. However, as the film progresses, they each have to learn to become more accepting in their own ways.

Max said that he first remembers watching the film with his best friend, because they both heard that it was a gay classic, and they wanted to check it out. He loved that although there was a lot of stereotyping in the film, it was actually pretty accurate for the most part, and didn’t discriminate. It equally lampooned the extremism that can be found both in the LGBT community and the conservative right.

I have loved The Birdcage for a long, long time, and I was really excited to watch it again with Max’s answers in mind. The first time I was exposed to the story of the The Birdcage was when my aunt and uncles took me to New York for my 16th Birthday. While there, we saw the revival of the Broadway musical, La Cage Aux Folles (literally, ‘The Birdcage’), which just-so-happened to be the very first show I ever saw on Broadway. La Cage Aux Folles was originally a show in the 1980s, and was based upon the hit French comedy film of the same name. The Birdcage would later be adapted from the same film. Anyway, the whole thing was very exciting, and we even ended up getting to go backstage to meet some of the cast. Obviously, this experience had a lasting impression on me, and one of the first things I did when I got home was going to find The Birdcage on DVD so I could compare the two productions. As you either know, or can probably tell from this blog, the film is not a musical, but the storyline and tone of both are so similar, that I instantly fell in love with the movie as well, and have felt a strong sense of nostalgia for it ever since.

I definitely agree with Max that the film has taken on even more meaning in the light of Robin Williams’ passing. He was such a great actor, and is a part of so many of my favorite films, and this is definitely one of them. The rest of the cast was superb as well. Nathan Lane and Hank Azaria both shine as over-the-top caricatures of flamboyantly gay men, somehow managing to never offend me in the process, and Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest nail their portrayals of the uptight conservative power couple. The way all of these characters bounce off of each other in the final act of the film is so much fun.

I also think it’s funny that this film happened to be the one that came up over Pride weekend. So fitting! And once again, no, I did not push the films around or change the order in any way. It was truly random. It just happened to end up with a number of fun coincidences.

That’s it for this week! Please let me know what you thought in the comments below and feel free to like, follow, share, etc.! Thanks!

Next Week: The Blues Brothers