Avis des critiques

As a film about the exploitation of the poor and addicted, Antibirth pokes at some relevant social issues (such as the crisis of opioid use in small towns across the United States) but never goes in for a closer look.

It’s a scrappy debut with a standout performance from Lyonne, who manages to be sympathetic even while she drinks her way into further circles of hell, and a terrific return to form for Meg Tilly as well. Perez is a director to keep an eye on, for sure.

[Antibirth boasts] memorably surreal imagery and an abrasive texture that enhances Perez’s overall vision. As a portrait of a middle America full of forgotten people and ruined civilizations, this is one of the year’s scariest movies.

“Antibirth” is novel, mysterious, and sometimes even dangerous enough to suck you in if you surrender to its confrontational, avant garde style... It’s icky, mean-spirited and bizarre. And I left it feeling like I had just seen something new; I wanted more.

While [many scenes] are bizarre, none are bizarre in an interesting, allegorical or even campy way (or uncanny in a Lynchian or Cronenbergian way, which seems to be what the director, Danny Perez, is reaching for)... It’s hard to tell amid the mind-numbing dialogue and incoherent plotting.

Antibirth proves its mettle in its less metaphorically saddled and aesthetically bloviating moments, speaking hard truths about decayed rural worlds... It’s unfortunate that the only part of the film that works does so by taking the wind out of the rest of it.

Perez’ style is like a less-serious David Lynch, which is a nice comparison for a first-timer. Not all of his scenes nail that eerie surrealism, but he’s got a knack for a well-placed prop and the right timing for a dopey gag to come in and pop the balloon of suspense.

Antibirth is intentionally ramshackle and hallucinatory as storytelling, seen through the viewpoint of characters who are mostly too stoned to concentrate – but it’s also highly crafted and unsettling... A seam of good character acting runs through the outrageous horror, and the promising Perez works hard to ground the flights of fancy in credible low-life excesses.

Sequences throughout Antibirth that rely on moody lighting and disorienting SFX reinforce the episodes of confusion and dislocation that Lou and Sadie experience, but also highlight the fairly unimaginative dramatic passages that attempt to propel the plot while filling in gaps between pertinent incidents... Perez’s lean script is most efficient at building sympathy for his characters