Sexy, dangerous "Birder" makes for an effective simmer of a thriller

Birder (2024)

Queer indie cinema doesn’t get much more daring than it does with TLA release “Birder.” It’s not only sexually explicit (and really sexy) but provocative in what it says about control in a supposedly safe and consensual community where casual sex and cruising are to be expected. Director Nate Dushku (Eliza’s brother) makes his directorial debut, working from a script by Amnon Laurie, and while there’s a bit of borrowing from “The Talented Mr. Ripely” and 2013’s excellent “Stranger by the Lake,” this is a compulsively watchable simmer of a thriller.

From the film’s start, drifter and bird enthusiast Kristian Brooks (Michael Emery) is on a boat fishing with a slightly older man. Kristian gets the official motto of New Hampshire a little wrong (saying “Live free and die” rather than “Live free or die”), and something is a little off-center. It’s Labor Day weekend, and Kristian is excited to see the loons on the water in the New Hampshire woods. He makes his way to queer, clothing-optional campground Lotus Cove, where he also seems to be the newbie. Just to name a few, there’s local drag queen Henley (Christopher Colon); three interchangeable publicists named Kyle; Mathew (David J. Cork) and his massage therapist partner James (Ryan Czerwonko); and Patrick (Cody Sloan) and his open partner Sam (Jes Davis). Welcomed in open arms (and open bums), Kristian becomes the toast of the woods, worming his way into this community. Did we mention this guy has a lust to kill?

Playing a demon in attractive human skin, Michael Emery is very persuasive and naturally charismatic. His Kristian is an enigma—whether it’s true or not, he was born and raised in Dallas, and he doesn’t drink—but a seductive one whom you can’t stop watching. Even though he is the protagonist we’re following, the closest we get to actually see a vulnerable honesty in Kristian is around a campfire under the influence of mushrooms. It’s the one time where Kristian isn’t in control, first asking if the micro-dose will change him. Then he gets personal with sensitive trans man Patrick (Cody Sloan), sharing his fears that no one will trust him because he’s never in the same place for long. “Tomorrow isn’t a sure thing,” he says, and the meaning becomes literal. Read the full review at GuyAtTheMovies.com

Grade: B 

TLA released "Birder" (87 min.) on digital, DVD, and on demand on June 25, 2024.