Melbourne Women In Film Festival 2020: BIRTHS, DEATHS & MARRIAGES

Bea Joblin’s feature film debut Births, Deaths & Marriages isn’t a found-footage film in the regular sense, though the low-fi, early 90’s camcorder lens that this New Zealand family drama is filtered through sits between the fuzzy edges of unwavering documentary-based minimalism and a high concept comedy. Splashes of local colour decorate the mahogany interior of the Hart’s family humble abode, a little suburban settlement situated in Upper Hutt where the titular activities are to unfold over one hectic weekend.

Just as floppy haired Dean (Ben Childs) has left his jilted bride Sinead (Yvette Velvin) at the altar, grandma Hart has left her mortal coil, twin tragedies that ripple across the inhabitants of the busy Hart home, all captured with voyeuristic giddiness by Aidan’s (Ethan Kai-Robson) brand-new video camcorder. His eager eye follows his shattered family with an unspoken but unwavering conviction under the guise of “posterity”, capturing candid snapshots of a subdued scenario that’s three weddings short of a Hugh Grant vehicle.

As One Door Closes, Another Opens

Making its Australian premiere at the Melbourne Women in Film Festival this year, Joblin’s free-wheeling feature is delivered with an aesthetic correlative with its low-key nature, where the initial pitch seems to be Death at a Funeral by the way of The Blair Witch Project, but from its stark opening it feels more like the Home Diaries of Hereditary; there’s a lingering feeling that beyond the 4:3 VHS textured frames, lies a supernatural twist or gruesome arrival ready to strike at any moment.

This sense of brooding foreshadowing occurs not because of its visual gimmickry, but because of its startling introduction, a hostile kicking-off point that births the same uncomfortable gut-feeling that you get from witnessing your friend’s parents fight, a pragmatic reaction heightened by its grounded framing device. We learn of Grandma Hart’s death right at the beginning, and the news is, as expected from such a tragic event, not handled well by the surrounding family whose mood has already been settled by the postponed wedding caused by Dean’s cold feet – and the toxic atmosphere never rises above mournful pessimism from there.

Emerging as a Kiwi-inflected Jonas Mekas vehicle with more comedic intent, the film’s succinct 70 minute running times races through a wild weekend threaded with emotional integrity, punctuated with common platitudes of the importance of family and how death doesn’t necessarily mean the end of someone. Its rhythm lapses into episodic, Feydeau-esque domestic routines where grief and happiness are often freely exchanged between fleeting conversations; although the constant hostility afoot chokes the air out of its feel-good sentimentality, whilst never quite giving into facile melodrama either.

Cheaper By the Dozen

The ideas of life and death being intertwined are invariably flirted with, one leading to the other and vice versa, which receives its most explicit illustration as two adjacent cousins ruminate in large bodies of water, merely one room apart – one in a blow-up pool, waiting to give birth, whilst her cousin Sinead recovers from the death of her perfect marriage – but the ordinary nature of their parallel situations never quite transcends their general banality. It genuinely does feel like watching old video diaries of past proceedings, your ultimate enjoyment of this film depends on your tolerance for such an approach.

Lightly tempered with humorous observations regarding the highs and lows of high-tension family get-togethers, Births, Deaths and Marriages’ jokes are consistently extinguished by its immediate caustic attitude; the family members frequently bicker and argue with acidic intent, largely absent of the reassuring, ramshackle comedy that material like this requires to really resonate. The raw authenticity on-display is most certainly a deliberate choice, but not one that gives much breathing room for the potential playfulness of this situation to surface.

Births, Deaths & Marriages: Conclusion

Produced for only $4,000 and filmed in only 3 weeks, Bea Joblin’s self-financed debut is quite an admirable effort; whether it be recording your cousin’s failed wedding or the farcical recreation of such event, this casual New Zealand comedy is a tribute to anybody that’s picked up a camera and aimed it at their own kin.

As recording events has become easier and more integrated in our fast-paced high-tech society, Births, Deaths and Marriages celebrates those who recorded those past memories that we absolutely cherish today.

Melbourne Women in Film Festival will be taking place in February 20-23, 2020, details on their program and screening times can be found here.