Tribeca Film Festival 2025 Review: “Birthright”
By Morgan Roberts
Director: Zoe Pepper
Writer: Zoe Pepper
Stars: Travis Jeffery, Maria Angelico, Linda Cropper, Michael Hurst
Runtime: 90 minutes
Year: 2025
Zoe Pepper’s “Birthright” is a dark comedy that tackles every millennial’s worst fear: having to move back in with your parents. Expectant parents Cory (Travis Jeffery) and Jasmine (Maria Angelico) are down on their luck. Losing their housing in an already strained housing market, they turn to Cory’s parents, Lyn (Linda Cropper) and Richard (Michael Hurst). But Cory’s wealthy Boomer parents aren’t particularly thrilled to have their grown son and daughter-in-law move into their home unexpectedly. Soon, the cohabitating couples find themselves at odds, with tensions quickly rising.
Jasmine (Marie Angelico), Cory (Travis Jeffery), Lyn (Linda Cropper) and Richard (Michael Hurst) in “Birthright” | Tribeca Film Festival
Currently, given the stark financial differences between generations, this scenario is realistically nightmarish. The idea of having to go back to the affluent life you were raised in with nothing to show. And as millennials begin to enter their 40s, that widening gap is only more striking. Just two to three generations ago, someone in their 40s had moved into a more permanent home, had several children, job stability. Cory, like many in his generation has not been afforded the same luck. Despite having wealthy parents, he does not have work, he is just now starting his family, and it comes at the worst time when he and his wife had just been evicted from their home. It is a horror that is a reality for many.
Nevertheless, the film is rather unrelenting, showing the divide between the young couple and Cory’s parents. From the get-go, we are introduced to Richard and Lyn as controlling, conceited, snobbish, and inflexible. Right out of the gate, the actions of Lyn and Richard feel more appropriate for a final act of a film, and not the start of understanding interpersonal dynamics. This choice makes it quite difficult for the film to sustain that level of discomfort. By the last act, the antics have been so exaggerated and grating, that the end of the film could not come fast enough.
“Birthright,” while grounded in a really interesting and timely premise, the overall film feels a bit too much. The stakes are seen as high for so long that by the end, it is hard to care how any of these characters will come out of this. With everything heightened for so long with no real change, it makes it difficult to remain invested in the same cycle this family has found themselves in.
Grade: C
Pair This Film With: “Fish Tank” (2009) dir. Andrea Arnold; “Hatching” (2022) dir. Hanna Bergholm; “Run Rabbit Run” (2023) dir. Daina Reid