by Finnlay Dall
Worth: $12.20
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Nykiya Adams, Franz Rogowski, Barry Keoghan
Intro:
… an emotionally resonant film, but one ultimately lacking in narrative depth.
Twelve-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) lives in a public housing block on the northern side of Kent. Feeling ignored by her father Bug (a poorly tattooed Barry Keoghan) – who seemingly has more time for his drug secreting toad than he does her – Bailey often finds herself acting out. When she’s one of the last to learn that her dad is getting married, Bailey becomes incensed, a mood that only worsens when Bug fights to put on her gaudy bridesmaid outfit.
Barry Keoghan plays an uncomfortable father figure to Bailey. The intimidation and social awkwardness that he exudes as an absent parent is no doubt adapted from his more villainous turns as an adolescent (The Killing of a Sacred Deer). Yet, director Andrea Arnold gives the actor small moments with Bailey to let his heart of gold shine through. Like in the opening when Bailey and Bug careen through town on an electric scooter, screaming at the top of their lungs, or when Bailey catches her dad practicing his dance moves for the wedding, there’s a palpable happiness inside of both father and daughter. Allowing Keoghan to act from a place of empathy instead of his usual apathy, Arnold creates a character that beautifully complicates things.
Not wanting to put up with her brute of a father any longer, Bailey decides to see her half brother Hunter (Jason Buda). Convincing his girlfriend to shave her head, she learns that the chavs her brother rolls with – a group focused on street justice – plan to jump a man that has wronged one of their members. Hunter, worried for Bailey’s safety, forbids her from tagging along. She tails them in secret, hoping to at least film the act and win favour with the gang. But when the police arrive, Bailey sprints for the hills. Exhausted, she passes out in a private paddock. Waking up the next morning, everything feels like a dream. A horse stands over her, curious; a strong gale blows through the dry grass; and a strange man introduces himself as Bird (Franz Rogowski) and comments on the beauty of the day.
Rogowski (Undine, Transit) is truly magical. He embodies the purest of nomads in Bird – a difficult role to pull off considering the potential ambiguity of an adult stranger hanging out with a twelve-year-old. Yet, his calm and soft-spoken demeanour subverts expectations by hiding nothing from the audience, while his subtle mentoring of Bailey is delightfully refreshing to see in a coming of age story.
Despite initially ignoring Bird, Bailey’s repeated attempts to get closer to him lead her to discover that he came to Kent looking for his parents, having left thirty years ago. Learning to channel her anger into helping him, Bailey finds a newfound family member in Bird.
Bird is lovely, if a bit underwhelming. Bailey, while having to go through puberty with no proper mother or father to guide her, is an interesting take on the coming of age protagonist, and her sulk-filled rage makes sense for the sometimes violent world that she was brought up in. She has to navigate things like her first period, putting on makeup and trying to get her life in order with little to no help from the people in her life.
As she documents her world and the creatures around her through her phone camera, or finds herself cocooned in her sleeping bag, she wonders what animal she will be when she’s older.
In contrast, Bird, despite being displaced, already knows what and who he’s supposed to be. As a bird (as Arnold so bluntly and excessively repeats through shots of flying seagulls and ravens), he is free to roam and to discover the world, a meek yet confident force for good.
To get to most of that meaty subtext though, the audience is subjected to an almost aggressive amount of passivity on Bailey’s part, leaving the talented Adams to rely on one of two emotions, rage or disappointment. Many of the film’s greater moments – like Bird bonding with Bailey and her younger siblings during their trip to the beach – are sporadically placed. The strongest story beats like this one, as well as the intriguing hints of fantasy sprinkled throughout, are often stifled between run and gun style long shots or basic visual metaphors – albeit stunningly crafted.
Arnold is not unfamiliar with neo-realism, as her 2009 film Fish Tank can attest to. But in Bird, her attempts at magical realism are left as afterthoughts. Her inability to balance the realism of Kent (and the actual locals and animals who make up her extras) with the modern fairytale she wants to desperately tell, may create an emotionally resonant film, but one ultimately lacking in narrative depth.
