HENRY GAMBLE’S BIRTHDAY PARTY (2015) Stephen Cone

Seen at TGLFF31

Let's say it right away, so I can put this discussion aside: yes, there's a lot of Altman, there's a lot of Paul Thomas Anderson, but there's even more.

The whole movie takes place at a pool, during Henry's birthday party (his age is never specified, but he's around 16). Slowly, the guests arrive, and they become the protagonists of this joyful yet bittersweet party.

The main feature that stands out in this group of friends of different ages is their strong sense of religion: they all belong to the same parish, and every action is marked by a thank you to God and an exaggerated warmth among them.

When the bar for morality/behavior is this high, it's easy to find transgressors, and this is perhaps the film's limitation: finding devoutly religious people who contradict themselves is a bit like shooting at the Red Cross, and it's only the director's subtlety that manages to create a balance between fanaticism (represented by a lady who doesn't even think it's proper to take a swim) and the And the cheerful devotion of the younger ones, more open to transgression. Henry, the protagonist of the party, is gay and desires his best friend (guessed from the first scene of the film with the 'jerking off' contest between the two), but he drifts calmly into the arms of a rather fervent girl, who is dating someone else. There are all ages and all types of people, there’s even a depressed guy who disfigures his face during the party, but the most beautiful and complicated figure is the mother, an elegant woman, pierced by an illicit love that destabilized her and made her prematurely aware. Everything works, maybe too many things happen for just one party, but the film never loses its pace and is always believable, which is quite difficult for an ensemble movie. The lighting is beautiful and so are the protagonists, for a film that, in my opinion, could also achieve commercial success.