The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 78 Days to go: 53
Movie #362: The Birdcage
When Robin Williams passed away, this was one of the films I immediately wanted to buy, so much do I love the performance he gives as Armand. It’s not the flashiest, or the most famous. It’s not the most renowned, and the film itself feels a tad outdated to me now (though it still makes me laugh like crazy), but Williams is just so heartfelt here. He’s playing a gay man, but without any of the affectations he would use to communicate “gay” in his stand-up. (Nathan Lane, as Albert, produces more of those than any one person could handle, anyway.) Armand is distinctly his own person, neither flamboyant nor butch, except maybe in certain situations. (His 10-second performance of the history of dance is one of my favorite things, and to this day I rarely say “Madonna” without saying it like he does: “Madonna! Madonna! Madonna! Madonna!” While vogue-ing, of course, though I sometimes keep that part internalized.) And more than anything, Armand holds in his heart a great deal of love and respect — for his son Val (Dan Futterman) and especially for his partner Albert. “I’m fifty years old,” he says. “I have one place in the world I call home and it’s because you’re there.” Is there any expression of lifelong devotion and commitment more sincere?
The Birdcage is a very funny story of two very different families coming together when the children get engaged. Val and Barbara (Calista Flockhart) are very young and very much in love, and they want to convince their parents that they’re ready for this step. But Barbara’s parents are the kind of Republicans who think Bob Dole and Billy Graham are too liberal. And Val’s parents are gay. (His biological mother, played by the luminous Christine Baranski, has not been involved in his life.) Not only that, but Senator and Mrs. Keeley (Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest) are trying to escape association with a colleague’s scandalous death, while Armand and Albert’s manservant Agador (Hank Azaria) steals Albert’s wigs so he can impersonate Gloria Estefan while sweeping the floor.
When I first saw The Birdcage I loved it instantly, but I was also pretty irritated with Val for being so cavalier and dismissive regarding his parents’ feelings, and their entire relationship. I get it, he’s twenty and he wants to fit in with his fiancée’s family, is afraid of losing her if they don’t get her conservative parents’ approval. And naturally it all works out in the end. I just always thought it took him far too long to defend them. Especially since (and this is what I love most about the film) his family is just as secure and he was raised with just as many values as Barbara. So what if his parents run a drag show and hers are right-wing Republicans? Amid all the pratfalls and the farce and the musical numbers (“I Could’ve Danced All Night” is my favorite) and the outrageously funny performances, The Birdcage is a story of acceptance and inclusion. I love that. I bet Robin Williams loved that.
True story: My aunt once went to a drag show with her brother (my uncle) and his partner, and she was mistaken for a man. This was a million years ago, when big hair and makeup and probably even shoulder pads were still very much a thing — plus my aunt is six feet tall as it is — so I can kind of see it. And considering how put together and glamorous drag queens look, I would take it as a compliment anyway. In my experience, very few women can pull off that amount of pizzazz. I’ve only been to one drag show in my life (unless you count being in the audience at a Lady Gaga concert), and it wasn’t nearly as elegant as those held at The Birdcage club. Then again, it was in Columbus, Ohio and not South Beach, Florida, so I guess I get what I settle for. But if I can ever get to one starring Nathan Lane (or for that matter, Gene Hackman, who I don’t love usually, but who is sort of fabulously cast here) (or Dianne Wiest, who looks GREAT in fake drag) (or even Calista Flockhart, who is “just as pretty as these other guys”), I’m going to make a point to go. I bet it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
Just like The Birdcage.
Viable Option 