Mutiny in Heaven: The Birthday Party

I was really excited to finally see this, it opened with a warning about flashing images and patterns and almost immediately you can see why.

The director has one editing gimmick and he runs in into the ground. Constant jump cuts and flashing, cheap looking "scratched film" filters and repetitive fake VHS tracking and damage cuts.

I get he wanted to make it look raw and trashy like The Birthday Party itself, but a t a certain point it just becomes obnoxious and gives you a headache.

There is some great archival footage, which is sadly over processed. There are animated recreation segments that are pretty good.

It will test your patience even if, like me, you are a huge BP/Nick Cave fan.

I was involved in the Orange County punk scene in the 1980s. We heard the name Birthday Party but really never heard ABOUT them or their music. It wasn't until Nick Cave formed The Bad Seeds that he and his band became famous over here in the U. S.

There is GREAT RARE footage of old Birthday Party shows, Nick's early bands and cool animated drawings that tell their story. My one complaint is that while it was great that they interviewed all the band, they rarely identified who was speaking when showing clips, etc. I recognized Nick Cave's voice but the others all just blended in together.

Definitely recommend this movie if you are a Cave fan or a fan of early punk in general!