reviews_and_ramblings | David's Birthday (Il Compleanno) (2009) directed by Marco Filiberti

A group of friends rent a magnificent house by the sea to spend the summer together. The unexpected arrival of Shary and Diego's son David sets something off in everyone, especially Matteo, an accomplished psychoanalyst who is married to Francesca. David's lonely and enigmatic uncle Leonard senses the reasons behind the dangerous tension, hidden beneath layers of silence and friendly banter. This vacation will indelibly mark everybody's life.

Director: Marco Filiberti

Writers: Deborah De Furia, Marco Filiberti

Release Date: 8 September 2009 (Venice Film Festival, Italy)

Genres: Drama

Storyline: While vacationing in an Italian summer home, happily married Matteo (Massimo Poggio) is surprised to find himself attracted to his best friend's underwear-model son, David (real-life model Thyago Alves). But the plot thickens when David appears to share Matteo's lust. Although she can't quite put a finger on the problem, Matteo's wife (Maria de Medeiros) senses something's happened to their relationship.

Engrossing journey heightened by beautiful cinematography, breathtaking score and stellar performances --Miami GLBT Film Festival

Sweeping and operatic... gorgeous to look and listen to... artistically triumphant. New York Cool --Wolfe

Awards: 2009 International Jury Award Nomination to Marco Filiberti, São Paulo International Film Festival

@IMDb
@Amazon: David's Birthday (2011)
@Netflix
@Wolfe Video

Cast (in credits order)
Alessandro Gassman ... Diego
Maria de Medeiros ... Francesca
Massimo Poggio ... Matteo
Michela Cescon ... Shary
Christo Jivkov ... Leonard
Piera Degli Esposti ... Giuliana
Thyago Alves ... David
Marianna De Rossi ... Chicca
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Daniele De Angelis ... Orazio
Lynn Swanson ... Circeo tour guide

Matteo & David

And since Thyago Alves is also a very handsome model, please enjoy a bit of Man Candy as well:

David's Birthday (Il Compleanno) (2009) directed by Marco Filiberti

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

O.M.G.....
he is... well words leave me here..
a beautiful italian specimen..
is he gay? or just outwordly beautiful?

This movie was a sensation in Italy because it was official selection in our most important, and most famous, movie festival (Venice) and because it has a gay theme that is still taboo here in Italy (despite everything people say or try). So I had to feature it, but I'm not sure I like the message. Oh I like the movie, how couldn't you like it? The setting is good (sometime wonderful), the acting is more than good (experienced actors with years of play acting behind) and the direction is at the same time "cultured" and "eye candy". What I probably didn't like is the message that being gay is a "dirty" impulse, something the progressive psychologist Matteo has to hide until the tragedy comes. True, Matteo is not in an easy situation, if you want to put obstacles on your way, he chose all of them: he is attracted/lusts for the 18 years old son of his best friend, he is married, he has a little child that still needs his figure... Not easy. I think other than the easy message of homosexuality as something that you have to hide, the second message, and probably what the director wanted to convey, was the contraposition between mind and body. Matteo prouded himself to be the intellectual one, sometime even a bit boring among his party friends; he was the perfect husband, the one who married the gentle woman who probably is not at his male intellectual level, but he is "training". And then Matteo is the first to fall in lust: his visceral attraction towards David is destructive and all physical, there is nothing of intellectual in that; sincerely David is not so clever or challenging on a mind level, even if his mother tells us he is a good student, but to me he came as a bit "simple". Beautiful, almost shockingly beautiful, but nothing more. By the way his best scene in the movie is the assolo masturbation, and this is not a joke: that scene is extremely erotic, probably one of the best scene of the movie, and David making love to himself in front of a mirror is the epitome of narcissism. So in the end, I recommend you to see the movie, but be aware, it's highly dramatic.

ah yes, i got sidetracked.. ;-)
the film sounds great...

Actually he is brazilian ;-) And I don't know if he is gay, for sure he is now (after this movie) a gay icon.

see my comment above ;-)

oops.. i should have read his name first, before i started drooling ...

i will watch it... for sure.
it does remind me of this
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462683/
but this one was a different approach to the theme, and as far as i have read your post, a more positive one, too.

Thank you for the link, I will look into it. But yes, David's Birthday unfortunately has not a positive evolution.

Oh. My. Gaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwddd!

He is handsome, isn't he? In a way it's a pity the movie is so tragic, but believe me, it's highly erotic.

I'm speechless, Elisa. OMG!!! I have to see this movie. Thank you for posting this and making me crazy early in the morning, lol!

This man is to die for...words fail...

It's definitely an eye-catching movie, not only for Thyago Alves, but also for the setting. Be aware it's really tragic, but worth the seeing.

In the movie there's a lot to enjoy (especially the eye-candy), but all things considered, I hated it... I hated the stupid ending. The final tragedy was so unneeded, or at least it felt that way to me. I'm tired of movies where homosexuality is trouble and leads to unhappiness. :(

yes, as I said I didn't like the tragedy and moreover I didn't like the meaning behind the tragedy. My "bad" self thought that, in a way, they are free after that, but of course the sense of guilty will prevent Matteo to be really free

OOT: Francy I couldn't avoid to notice your profile, did you know we are from the same city? the world is really small ;-) also since it's not that a big city LOL

Really? Oh, lol!!! Fantastico!!! Bello incontrare una concittadina (anche se io abito in provincia) con gli stessi interessi! ;) :D

Io invece abito proprio in città (dentro le mura per intenderci), ma lavoro a mestre e sono spesso fuori per lavoro. ma cmq bella coincidenza. C'è un'altra ragazza che commenta ogni tanto che abita a treviso, poi conosco 2 ragazze di roma ed una ragazza in puglia, ma questo è tutto per quanto riguarda italiane.

LJ non è poi tanto diffuso tra gli italiani, purtroppo! Io ne ho incontrati solo 2 o 3, te compresa!

Ti ho aggiunta tra gli amici, spero non ti dispiaccia! :)

non mi dispiace affatto ed ho ricambiato ;-)

I don't know how I missed your post, so long ago, about David's Birthday.

I loved this film, and fell in love with Thyago, and in fact have patterned a character after him. I agree with your thoughts on the film, I was spellbound by it.

And I also have to say that Alessandro Gassman, who was the reason I bought the film in the first place, is my all-time favorite actor, and has been for such a long time. A brilliant actor, a sexy man.

And I've SO enjoyed the picture line-up you offered of Thyago. I'm in heaven.

Sorry I did not see this sooner!

Regards,
C. Zampa

Thyago Alves is currently on a reality in Italy, so we can enjoy a lot of him (it's like a survival reality type...)

I'm in America, and I've only been able to follow this reality (Famosi?) show on google and youtube..LOL!

Enjoy him for me! Sigh!

C. Zampa

David's Birthday (Il Compleanno) (2009) directed by Marco Filiberti

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

After all this time...

Re: After all this time...

Re: After all this time...