Birth/Rebirth (2023)★★★☆☆

I wanted to really like this movie. For most of the film, I was ready to give it four stars, but then it just kind of…ended. It’s nicely shot and the acting is great, but the pacing and the payoff fell flat for me.

(Spoilers ahead) Things I liked about this movie: Marin Ireland and Judy Reyes. They were both fantastic, especially when on camera together. I appreciated the earliest scenes really setting the stage for how the two women go through life.

Without giving away too much, I liked the concept around what needed to happen, how they were trying to make it happen, and the ultimate consequence those attempts led to.

But I felt the pacing was off so that the tension and creepiness that was building up throughout just kind of deflated at the end. The big climactic thing felt rather anticlimactic, like it’s just introducing you to the depths of what could happen if Rose and Celie stick together, and then ending before that really gets explored…

But the thing is, I’m not sure how I think it should have ended if not how it did. I don’t particularly think the movie should’ve been any longer than it was.

Anyway, the directing and cinematography are great, the acting is great, and there are some definitely creepy things happening in this film…it just doesn’t quite come together to make a really good scary story.