Tribeca 2025 Review: BIRTHRIGHT, Impressive Black Comedy About the Horrors of Blood Ties

When Ivan Turgenev was writing his novel Fathers and Sons, which set out the standard for the generational conflict-based narratives for ages, he probably couldn’t have imagined that at some point the said conflict would be embodied by a quarrel about whether it is okay to have sex while wearing your father’s prized leather jacket.

Turgenev would also probably be impressed (and maybe a little disappointed) that, while so many new layers of dysfunctional family dynamics exist nowadays, the core of the problem stays the same – as is once again demonstrated by Australian director Zoe Pepper’s debut, Birthright.

The film starts with an infestation – at least, that’s the excuse a young couple, Cory (Travis Jeffery) and his heavily pregnant wife, Jasmine (Maria Angelico), give to his well-off parents for requesting to stay with them for a bit. The parents, Lyn (Linda Cropper) and Richard (Michael Hurst), are very vocal about the fact that they consider themselves the ones dealing with pests.

Cory and Jasmine are in a tough spot and not at all in the same place his parents were at his age. The young couple has been evicted, and the new potential home fell through; Cory is out of a job, and his prospects are grim.

He and his wife think they just need a break, a place to stay for a while or possibly a loan, but Richard believes his son is more in need of a life lesson. The tensions that start with irritation on both sides, caused by having to share the living space, soon turn into something more drastic – an existential battle of wills that almost undoubtedly will end in a tragedy.

In a way, this is the only real issue Birthright encounters: The inevitability of the outcome of this story that could either end with a bloodshed or a very awkward morning after. Through the use of music (on which the film relies a little too much, to be honest), the authors hint at suspense and chilling developments during the entire runtime, even when nothing threatening seems to be happening. At the end, they are not quite able to stick the landing in the most effective way; instead, the finale is rather expected and, therefore, not as emotionally resonant as it could have been.

That in no way negates the fact that Zoe Pepper has a distinctive voice, and her debut feature, for all of its black, absurdist humor, digs deep into the raw material of reality and the darkness that simmers underneath the façade of familiar relationships. Psychological discourse aside, Birthright is also very conscious of the social reality that surrounds us, which pretty much shattered the idea of financial stability for most of the younger generation, the American (or in this case, Australian) dream reduced to nothing but a distant memory.

The older generation in Birthright clings to this memory, though, just as Richard clings to the abovementioned leather jacket as a symbol of better and fairer times. The younger generation also holds on to the remnants of a simpler life when the future was something to look forward to instead of dreading it. For Cory, it’s the pool that used to be in the yard, the embodiment of a perpetual summer, which he constantly attempts to dig out again, much to Richard’s frustration.

The father and son’s relationship, colored in fifty shades of toxic, is at the core of this impressive debut, but there are myriad of other keenly observed details and nuances about how terrible people can be to each other, especially the ones who are bonded by blood.

The film enjoys its world premire at Tribeca Festival 2025. Visit the official site for more information.