{"id":684630,"date":"2026-05-21T06:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/684630\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T06:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T06:32:11","slug":"new-film-birthright-is-a-biting-relatable-satire-on-australias-housing-affordability-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/684630\/","title":{"rendered":"New film Birthright is a biting, relatable satire on Australia\u2019s housing affordability crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angry, twisted, macabre: new Australian film director Zoe Pepper has made a film perfectly crafted to meet the heated debates about Australia\u2019s housing affordability crisis.<\/p>\n

Birthright darkly satirises the intergenerational conflict between boomer parents and ageing millennial children \u2013 two population groups that have vastly different experiences when it comes to employment, home ownership and raising a family. <\/p>\n

The film raises unsettling questions about the kinds of entitlements younger generations should ask from elder ones, and the suburban mayhem that ensues when such requests are denied.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Blame games<\/p>\n

From columnist Bernard Salt\u2019s infamous critique of millennial smashed avocado brunches<\/a>, to the worldwide \u201cOK boomer\u201d meme<\/a>, there is no shortage of moralistic media coverage trying to pit the generations against one another.<\/p>\n

There is also the \u201cSKI\u201d movement, which stands for \u201cspending your kid\u2019s inheritance\u201d. This is grounded in the belief that retired parents should spend their life savings, rather than putting it away for their offspring. One news article<\/a> on this topic quotes a retired mother who sees the child\u2019s expectations as a moral failing: <\/p>\n

There are generations coming through that just don\u2019t expect to work. They expect to inherit or be given or bought a family home by their parents.<\/p>\n

What do parents really owe their kids?<\/p>\n

As the title suggests, the oscillation between the entitlement of inheritance versus the desperate need for family support is the main dynamic that fuels the drama of Birthright.<\/p>\n

The film begins with Cory (Travis Jeffery) and Jasmine (Maria Angelico) evicted from their flat, struggling to jam their possessions into their small car. Both in their late thirties, Jasmine is heavily pregnant and Cory is unemployed. Things are looking bleak.<\/p>\n

With no other option, the couple travel to Cory\u2019s parents\u2019 home, masking a long stay under the pretence of a short visit. Parents Richard (Michael Hurst) and Lyn (Linda Cropper) are immediately distrustful and put out by the young couple\u2019s intentions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Things are looking bleak for Cory (Travis Jeffery) and Jasmine (Maria Angelico) once they\u2019re evicted from their flat with a baby on the way.
\n Madman Entertainment<\/p>\n

Cory\u2019s relationship with his parents is notably strained \u2013 he hadn\u2019t even invited them to his wedding \u2013 so they\u2019re not happy about an extended stay. When he explains \u201cthe rental market\u2019s fucked\u201d, Richard retorts \u201cwell, you should own your own house by now!\u201d <\/p>\n

At first, they ask to stay for a night. Lyn says the \u201cguest room is in a state\u201d, so they are forced to bunk in Cory\u2019s old room. The discrepancy between the luxurious home and the cramped conditions of the room is played as comical.<\/p>\n

It all goes badly very quickly. Cory\u2019s sense of having a \u201cbirthright\u201d is apparent as soon as he arrives, when he finds the spare key to enter the home. Meanwhile, Jasmine helps herself to Lyn\u2019s discarded designer clothing she finds stuffed in the rubbish bins. Lyn is so well off she can\u2019t understand that her clothes would be highly valued in the second-hand market.<\/p>\n

Richard and Lyn\u2019s begrudging boomer attitude, and their inability to consider the needs of their younger family is presented as monstrous, breaking long-lived family hospitality rules. <\/p>\n

TV\u2019s deeply troubled families<\/p>\n

In Australian television, we often see intergenerational conflict demonstrated for comic effect. Comedy series Kath and Kim (2002\u201307) was premised on ungrateful daughter Kim moving back into the family home after her breakup, and ruining Kath\u2019s peace with her new boyfriend Kel.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the Moody family, in A Moody Christmas (2012) and The Moodys (2014), is a celebration of family dysfunction. The suburban family home becomes the site for heated sibling rivalry. <\/p>\n

In contrast, Birthright is a much nastier depiction of family drama.<\/p>\n

All the characters are unlikable. While parents Richard and Lyn are psychotically ignorant about the children\u2019s stark financial situation, Cory and Jasmine are also overly entitled, mean-spirited and deeply resentful when they\u2019re at the home. <\/p>\n

Cory\u2019s expectation to receive a family inheritance as the solution for his financial problems seems tone-deaf \u2013 nothing more than a replication of the bourgeois life of his parents. He essentially doesn\u2019t mind perpetuating a flawed system. And this leads to things getting sinister.<\/p>\n

Haunted by hopes and memories<\/p>\n

Ultimately, I like to think about this film as a darkly humorous ghost story. It\u2019s a ghost story about the great Australian post-second world war dream of owning a large suburban home with a sprawling garden. <\/p>\n

In ghost stories, the \u201chaunted house\u201d is frequently used as symbol of intergenerational unrest, and undermines the family home\u2019s identity as a place of safety and refuge. <\/p>\n

This is certainly the case in Birthright. Cory and Jasmine are haunted by the promise of a comfortable home for their unborn child, which feels unattainable.<\/p>\n

The family home is an imposing symbol of their misery, and it seems that it will doom them all.<\/p>\n

Birthright is in cinemas from today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Angry, twisted, macabre: new Australian film director Zoe Pepper has made a film perfectly crafted to meet the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,134,344],"class_list":["post-684630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}