Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

pointyfilippa The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- 2003, A large flock of non-native birds, Cherry-Headed Conures live in a district of San Francisco. A lone man becomes their benefactor and gets a special life.*Special Stars- Mark Bittner. Dir: Judy Irving *Theme- Sensitive natured people often become victims of their own interests to hide out.*Based on- Newspaper stories from San Francisco media.*Trivia/location/goofs- Documentary. Takes place on location in 'Telegraph Hill' near Coit Tower, North Beach neighborhood, San Francisco, Calif.*Emotion- A rather interesting movie exploring the relationship of a unemployed friendly sensitive musician that has taken care or adopted a flock of Cherry-headed Conure parrots from South America in his neighborhood. For over ten years, he has become their adopted benefactor and spokesperson. While doing this, he has put his life 'on-hold' and has become a reclusive person with little relationships and opportunities much like the parrots. While this is a nature lover's dream story, I could not help but wonder about the musician's emotional and development level in this situation. In the end, he begins a relationship with the female documentary producer of this film piece. Maybe that's the best karmic ending of them all concerned.

intheaudience It has been rare to see this kind of innocent movie lift one up as much as this one did for me. I would place the movie in the same category as the March of the Penguins, except done with a much less polished style, which adds its own charm.It's a documentary about a simple man, who, because circumstances estranged him from mainstream society, is sort of forced to seek a much humbler and more simple means of connectedness, and in the end finds a much greater connectedness, i.e. with nature and life in general. He achieves a synergy with nature that is rare to achieve unless one is really in harmony with it, and it would be hard to do that with something as simple as wild birds coming up to one's backyard unless one has a lot of time, a certain amount of introspection, and a definite extroversion to nature, or i.e. inclination to get in synch or in touch with the nature that is host to the place where one lives. This nature is so often taken for granted or under-appreciated.It's a beautiful and simple movie that gets at what I think is a basic truth about our existence, i.e. our underlying connectedness, and is very uplifting.

Ed Uyeshima At first, I wasn't terribly keen about seeing this documentary about a flock of wild South American parrots even though it takes place in my city, San Francisco. The trailer, which I saw in the movie theater earlier this year and is included as an extra in the DVD, made it seem like one of those quirky stories about a lonely eccentric who takes care of birds. However, now that I have seen it, I can say it is a genuinely beguiling, even uplifting film that will surprise you with its charm and poignancy. Over the course of 83 minutes, local documentary filmmaker Judy Irving accurately conveys the heart and soul of Mark Bittner, a middle-aged, pony-tailed hippie who found his calling over a decade ago in taking care of over forty of these colorful birds from his ramshackle cottage on Telegraph Hill.Bittner's story is familiar – having dreams of becoming a rock musician, he moved to San Francisco in the 1970's but could never find a job to suit his free spirit. He is not the stereotypical homeless slacker, at least as portrayed by Hollywood, but an eloquent, obviously sensitive man who doesn't easily share his feelings with others except with the parrots he has come to know and name. What Irving has done particularly well is not portray Bittner as a selfless savior of these birds but as a realist who respects the freedom the wild birds need and tend to them when they are ill or injured. In fact, according to a city official interviewed in the film, environmentalists want them removed, even destroyed, as they are not a native species.Bittner, on the other hand, knows how the birds have adapted naturally to the cold climate of Northern California and continue to thrive in such an anomalous, urban landscape. The film does not shy away from the tragedy inevitable with wildlife, namely predators like hawks who hover above the city and perhaps more destructively, the ignorance of humans. Bittner himself speaks candidly about the trap of anthropomorphism, i.e., attributing human characteristics to the parrots, especially given the all-too-human penchant to project feelings onto animals. This becomes challenging to the viewer as well since what stays in the memory are the beautiful close-ups of the parrots and their obviously loving interactions with him. The birds - among them, Mingus, Pushkin, Tupelo, Picasso, Sophie - have individual stories that indeed humanize them to some degree, and the most interesting is the plight of Connor, the only blue-crown parrot among the cherry-crowns and consequently the resident outsider.What makes him and the film so noteworthy, however, is the fact that contrived sentimentality is averted in favor of a more journalistic approach to this highly personal story. The chief example of this is when the film documents a challenging development - the property owners have to evict Bittner from the cottage as part of a major renovation. Instead of being portrayed as villains, the obviously well-to-do owners are shown to be good, realistic people who have allowed Bittner to stay on the property for three years without rent. Irving also provides a lot of nice contextual touches with shots of Bittner in North Beach, the dramatic visual and audio contrast between the parrots and the soaring Blue Angels, and interviews with people who share "urban legends" about the origin of the parrots. I particularly like the establishing shot of the film when a particularly cynical inquisitor questions Bittner about how wild the parrots could be since they interact so easily with him. Irving and Bittner should be rightly proud of this heartfelt film.The DVD package has loads of extras targeted to those enthralled by Bittner's story, including most importantly, a seven-minute update on the parrots. There are seven deleted scenes, all understandably excised, but they nonetheless provide additional insight into Bittner's story as well as the parrots themselves. One interesting excerpt is a 14-minute interview with a woman who took care of the flock prior to Bittner and illustrating how the birds drew people from different walks of life. Four shorts are also included – a more in-depth profile of Connor, a follow-up report on Mingus at the Oasis Sanctuary in Phoenix, a featurette on California quails in the Presidio, and almost half an hour of Bittner's own home movies, which I assume is the basis of the film. There is even a music video of pianist-vocalist Roberta Fabiano signing a forlorn paean to the parrots. "Dogen, Connor and Tupelo".

handsomepete2-1 This documentary speaks volumes to those with a little bit of an open mind. You don't have to be a spiritual naturalist to accept some of the ideas Irving makes a valiant effort at getting across. There is nothing brutal or graphic about this G-rated movie, it's a family-oriented documentary about birds, but the storytelling is direct and often very emotional. There is one story told by the "hero" Bittner near the end that is one of the most emotional and effective stories about the human connection with animals I have ever heard. And this film works well as a collection of individual stories because there are so many birds. The true value in this film is that Bittner is not some expert on human/bird relations giving us lessons; he too makes mistakes he regrets and this film does the right thing in documenting what he did right and what he thought he should have done better with these wild birds. Recommended highly for anyone who respects animals in any way, plain and simple!