This movie is about everything but killer birds. No one films people watching other people better than Hitchcock. “The Birds,” kinda like “Close Encounters” just goes its own way and doesnt stop until it leads to its own inevitable conclusion. Trying to summarize either picture makes them sound dumb. There are so many strange choices in “The Birds” that are just left there for you to chew on. Why do the birds make electronic sounds? Why are Tippy Hedren and Jessica Tandy kinda dressed the same, with the same hairstyle? Why does the dude keep calling his mom “dear” and “sweetheart?” This is a surrealist classic Eugene Ionesco as filmed by Stanley Kubrick. Its hard to pull off one of these allegorical stories without seeming silly, but this one works.
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Jordan Hoffman is a New York-based writer and film critic working for The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Thrillist, Times of Israel, NY Daily News and elsewhere.
He is the host of ENGAGE: The Official Star Trek Podcast, a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and challenges you to a game of backgammon.