Director: Jimmy Giannopoulos
Writers: Jimmy Giannopoulos, Diomedes Raul Bermudez, Shiloh Fernandez
Stars: Shiloh Fernandez, Val Kilmer, Ewan McGregor, Ashley Benson, Lorraine Bracco
Synopsis: On the 10th anniversary of his father’s death, Giovanni reluctantly accepts the task of bringing a cake to the home of his uncle, a mob boss, for a celebration. Just two hours into the night, Gio’s life is forever changed.
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The first thing to mention about Jimmy Giannopoulos’ crime drama The Birthday Cake is it’s star-studded cast. It’s difficult to make it through the entire runtime without uttering phrases like ‘wait, is that Paul Sorvino?’, ‘hang on, what’s Vincent Pastore doing in this?’, or “no way, it’s Luis Guzman!,’ which is fantastic – albeit sometimes cliched – casting. Aside from Sorvino, Guzman, and Big Pussy Bonpensiero, we’re also treated to performances from the First Lady of crime drama, Lorraine Bracco; perennial bad guy Will Fichtner as a corrupt cop; Ewan McGregor (for some reason?) as a priest and omniscient narrator for the events we’re about to witness; Penn Badgely as a seedy criminal; Jake Weary (wasted in a nothing role) as an FBI agent; and finally Val Kilmer as the head of the crime family, Uncle Angelo. It’s sort of like a reunion of some of the best in the crime genre, but unfortunately comes out little more than a Goodfellas fugazi trying to be the real thing.
In fairness, that may be harsh. The Birthday Cake is Giannopoulos’ directorial debut, and it’s clear he has a love of the genre. References to Goodfellas, Sopranos, A Bronx Tale, and even a splash of Waiting For Godot are abound here. And even though it reminds you of much better movies, it’s all tied in fairly well – with just a few bumps along the way.
The Birthday Cake finds Gio (Shiloh Fernandez, looking like a cross between Donnie Brasco era Johnny Depp, and what you imagine Joaquin Phoenix’s son might look like if he gets into acting one day) on the 10th anniversary of his father’s death. As is customary every year, the family get together for a dinner to celebrate. Gio’s mother Sofia (Lorraine Bracco) bakes a cake which she instructs Gio to take to his Uncle Angelo’s for the dinner. And so begins Gio’s journey across New York as he tries to deliver the cake while also finding out what happened to his cousin Leo – who everyone seems to be looking for. Along the way, he’ll meet old friends, Puerto Rican taxi drivers, and witness things which will change his life forever.
Perhaps the most impressive thing Giannopoulos does is capture the atmosphere of street-level New York. The Birthday Cake feels episodic in the way that Gio wanders the streets running into one drama after another and it’s remarkably naturalistic how these events unfold. You can almost feel the air and hear the buzzing around the neighborhood, and there’s nothing stagey about Gio’s interactions with his friends as he wanders around looking for Leo. It’s just another weekend in the big city, everyone is up to something, and small moments such as a very heated argument between a couple in a taxi or Gio’s burgeoning romance with the girl at the bakery counter become more weighty because of the time devoted to them. The aforementioned argument in a taxi takes places after Gio exits the scene, and as a viewer, you expect to go with him, except Giannopoulos’ camera lingers to capture the fight. It’s almost entirely superfluous to the story, and once we’re done with them we won’t see or hear from the couple again, yet it adds to the flavor of the movie to witness what might be a typical argument for this couple. This is very much New York and its inhabitants, and the orbit around Gio’s day-to-day life.
Less impressive are the later scenes at Uncle Angelo’s. Throughout The Birthday Cake, we’re constantly told that Leo is up to something. Is he talking to the Feds? Did he get mixed up with the Puerto Rican mafia? Why has no one heard from him? This thread is teased all the way throughout, as Gio picks up crumb after crumb of information and begins to piece together the larger mystery. A shame, then, that Giannopoulos can’t quite stick the landing. Although there are some expertly wrought moments of tension (in particular the ominous sense that something isn’t quite right about the party at Uncle Angelo’s and that it may just be out of Gio’s grasp), it fizzles out by the climax and proves it doesn’t have anything up its sleeve which might distinguish it from its peers in the genre. Indeed your first instinct about what’s really going on will probably be the correct one.
Not for nothing, The Birthday Cake isn’t a bad movie. It boasts an impressive cast for a film of its budget (and one wonders how much of a pay cut certain actors may have had to take to accommodate it) and has some impressively naturalistic filmmaking. Ultimately though, it’s a paean to better movies and you might end up asking yourself why you didn’t just watch one of those instead.
Grade: C
Signature Entertainment presents The Birthday Cake in Cinemas and on Premium Digital 16th July
