ShangLuda Admirable film.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

ohioparrotspigeons Once seen, never forgotten! Pancholi-Kota's review is fairly accurate; straightforward, but gives too-positive of a rating. The better elements of the movie are overwhelmed by the incongruity of the surrealism. The film quality seemed more circa-1976 than 2016 & I suspect it was inspired, partially, by Deliverance, only set on a river in Portugal. I was surprised I managed the last 20 minutes when the three topless women hunting on horseback appeared. My mouth dropped in disgust when the one topless woman pounded her chest & wailed like a gorilla. 50 shades of weird ridiculousness that should only be watched so as to allow bad movies to appear better as this the worst.

Paulo Ferreira My fondness for Nature and the idea of sharing this movie with a couple of birdwatchers brought this movie to my attention. Was i ready for it? Not even close!!! Not ready for the Religious subtext, not ready for the graphic sexual images, not ready for the dreamlike script that never gave away the meaning of it all and most of all not ready to enjoy it so much.If your kind of movies are mainstream blockbusters with plenty of action and a fast-food script stay away from it, you are in risk of severe damage to your beliefs, feelings and mind constructs.But if you like to go into the rabbit hole of other peoples heads just go for it, it´s one hell of a ride.

evanston_dad You can't watch "The Ornithologist" as a traditional movie. You have to instead approach it as you would a poem, just opening yourself up to sensations and images to see what they might say to you.I can and have really enjoyed this kind of movie watching -- I'm thinking of a film like "Last Year at Marienbad" or any number of David Lynch's movies. But they have to be done extremely well to work, and "The Ornithologist" just isn't.The motifs in this film are largely either sexual or religious/spiritual. A bird watcher finds himself lost in the wilderness when his canoe capsizes. He's captured by two fellow hikers who intend to castrate him as part of some strange ritual, but he escapes. He comes across some random dude and has sex with him on the beach before stabbing him. He comes across some other dudes dressed like birds and engaging in some kind of midnight bacchanalia. Toward the end, the actor playing this man is replaced by the actual film's director. Along the way, the director shows shot after shot of birds when he seemingly has nothing else to do or say, and sometimes we even get shots of the protagonist from the birds' perspectives.Of course one will be tempted to impose meaning on all of this randomness and will probably be frustrated by the film's resistance to making that task easy. I was fine just going along for the ride, but once I realized this film wasn't saying much to me, I gave up on it and stopped caring much about anything happening on screen. It doesn't help that I'm not a remotely religious person, and that the strong religious themes in the movie meant nothing to me. Perhaps someone who is more interested in the big questions surrounding God and faith would find more to enjoy, but I'll never know.Grade: D

lancing-97415 I went along with partner as it was his date idea ( we take it in in turns) so trusted it might be OK and wanted to be surprised so didn't read the synopsis (last time I do this), We are birdwatchers so knew it wasn't a documentary however, didn't expect it to become so warped with 45 mins. In my daily work, I listen to people's stories and however, the characters we meet ie the two clueless Christian? Chinese girls just doesn't ring true. The elaborate knots they tie the Portuguese ornithologist in, seems highly unlikely as they are lost and walk around in a beautiful fresh air forest with masks on???? really??? what's wrong with fresh air, you're in nature. After an hour and a suggestion they would casterate him the next day, that was it for me, I left the theatre. Honestly, don't waste ur time and money. what a waste of film.