Birdland

Synopsis: An ex-cop whose marriage is on the rocks hides surveillance cameras in her home and watches her husbands transgressions, becoming a voyeur of her own life.
Genre: Crime, Mystery
Director(s): Peter Lynch
Production: Acqua Film
 
IMDB:
3.9
Year:
2018
89 min
55 Views


(whooshing)

(introspective music)

(train rattling)

(intense music)

(woman screams)

(indistinct radio chatter)

Okay.

You want to show us where

the rest of the cameras are?

What do you have to hide?

Test.

You're watching a detective.

Yeah, that's right.

I see you.

Yeah, I mean you.

What?

I need your badge.

Off the record, how long you

been taking police equipment?

I'm sorry, Hood, they asked

me to take your badge.

It wasn't my idea.

(pats chair)

(breathing heavily)

That's interesting.

Don't really know what to say.

- You know that we're

here to talk about Tom,

and why he is in jail under

suspicion of two murders,

Merle James and Ray Starling.

(man grunts)

- I know when it comes to

murder, everyone is a suspect.

- When did things start

to go off the rails, Hood?

- My life is

perfect, isn't yours?

Tom.

Hi.

What'd you get up to today?

(woman moaning)

(introspective music)

(footsteps echoing)

(ladder rattles)

- When you put in master

cameras at your husband's work

and your own home, I mean

you must have some idea

what you were chasing

after in all this.

- At first, it was

just an awful feeling

in the pit of my stomach.

- So why didn't you just

confront Tom about Merle?

- Until then, I'd

never heard of Merle.

At the time, I really didn't

know what I was looking for.

(footsteps echoing)

(man laughs)

Now I think you all can see

how this will benefit

the entire community.

- You're destroying

everything I care about!

Starling.

Merle, come on, let's go.

Merle, please, come on.

- Starling, will you talk

some sense into your girl?

I'm nobody's girl.

- [Calvin] What was

the most striking thing

you learned about her?

- She was blonde, is that

what you want to know?

You claim.

- She was very

different from me.

How so?

- I guess I admired her

strong moral principles.

- And that's why she

slept with your husband.

Maybe.

Don't feel so bad.

Most marriages are

based in denial.

(introspective music)

Was working for Merle's dad

the first time you

started moonlighting?

[Sheila] Guess so.

You have a thing for

the Medieval era?

- Give me back the

Knights of the Round Table

and the search of the San Graal.

Sounds so noble.

What would we women

do without you?

Hmm.

Who are they?

- This is my daughter Merle

and my daughter Hazel.

Have you ever tried

archery, Miss Hood?

- It's not exactly

my weapon of choice.

- Of course Merle's the

crack shot in the family.

You must try it sometime.

- I always worry

when I see my dad

alone with a beautiful woman.

This is my daughter Hazel.

This is Sheila Hood.

Hi.

Be nice to my father now.

- Your father

strikes me as a man

who knows how to

look after himself.

(Hazel chuckles)

(inaudible whispering)

- So, how can I

help you, Miss Hood?

- I'd like to help

you, Mr. James.

- Oh really, well how

are you going to help me?

- I'd like to get to the bottom

of your sabotage problem.

And what's in it for you?

Are you in debt, or something?

Or is this personal?

Of course I deal with

a lot of people but,

I've a hunch this is something

to do with my daughter Merle.

You see Merle is

one of those people

who blames everything in

the world on global warming.

- You're too

beautiful to be a cop.

So, what gives?

By the way, what do you think

of my father, the silver fox?

- I'm not really sure what

to think of your father.

- Hmm, he's a man of grand

appetites and passions.

Merle inherited

his stubbornness.

You're lucky he likes you.

Watch out for Starling, though,

he's a pretty dangerous guy.

How so?

He's not the kind of guy who's

particularly interested

in your nice ass.

He's more interested in taking

advantage of your wounds.

So what do you like about him?

He lets me sing at his bar,

and he likes to touch

women inappropriately.

(chuckles)

Aren't you going to

ask me about my sister?

Of course.

If I could say anything,

I admire her sense of purpose.

How she became so different

remains a mystery to me.

How do you mean?

She believes in something.

Compared to Merle,

I'm pretty crass

and materialistic.

("Lullaby of Birdland")

Ladies and gentlemen, my sister,

Merle James.

Lullaby of Birdland,

that's what I

Always hear when you say

Never in my wordland could

there be ways to reveal

In a phrase how I feel

Have you ever heard

two turtle doves

Bill and coo when they love

That's the kind of magic

music we make with our lips

When we kiss

No peeking.

(inhaling deeply)

Smells like Cubans.

Mm hmm.

That's part of the story.

Louisiana whiskey, no less.

You can open your eyes now.

The ivory-billed woodpecker.

How?

This is a museum piece.

The cigar box is antique.

It's made from the trees

they cut down in Louisiana.

The cigar is from Cuba

where they did the same.

I remember you telling me

that's why the

ivory-bill went extinct.

Don't you like it?

That was

very touching, Hood.

I mean, I thought you'd be

angry enough to kill a guy

and you, you just

give him a present?

- It was like if I could

just create something

that I knew he loved,

maybe I could still

somehow hold onto what we had.

Do you have any evidence

yet that it is sabotage?

None.

Other than damage

from the fires.

But I also have this.

Life is full of

inexplicable things.

Someone sent these to you?

- Now I should tell you

Merle was having an affair

which led to her breaking

off her engagement

with Raymond Starling.

(woman breathing heavily)

Go ahead, shoot me.

(dramatic music)

(introspective music)

Now point it up just a little.

Good.

Now release the arrow.

Let it go.

Not bad for a first try.

Only with your help.

- I'm just gonna go

make a phone call,

why don't you go get the

arrows, I'll be right back.

(crossbow fires)

(Sheila gasps)

(introspective music)

(shutter clicks)

(shutter clicks)

[Sheila] Poor thing.

Ah, he looks so peaceful,

but he died so violently.

Mm hmm, mm hmm.

Yeah?

Yeah, it's good.

What?

Let's go.

What?

Nothing, it's...

(sighs)

Your pictures, it's like

you're photographic a

crime scene, you know?

(shutter clicks)

Oh, for real then?

Hey, come here.

This one's still breathing.

- (sighs) Birds don't

understand windows.

We should put it

out of its misery.

No!

No, we need to take him

to the wildlife center.

- [Calvin] What

was going on with

this whole dead bird thing?

- We were bird

rescue volunteers,

looking for stunned

or injured birds

that had collided

with buildings.

I tagged along, documenting

the deaths because

it was something we

could do together.

Hmm, sounds intimate.

(unsettled music)

- They say the spirit

of King Arthur is alive

in any old crow that flies back.

- [Calvin] You always get that

worked up over dead birds?

Thought that was

more of a Tom thing.

- I was brought up to believe

in the sanctity of life.

If you say so.

So what was going

on in your marriage

before all this

started to happen?

(Tom breathing heavily)

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Lee Gowan

Nelson Lee Gowan MFA (born in 1961) is a Canadian novelist. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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