I've seen all but one of the shorts and features directed by Andrea Arnold, although she has yet to helm anything better than her bleak and brutal feature debut, Red Road. There's never a guarantee that I will enjoy her work, but I am always hoping for something else that will blow me away. Maybe that's just the effect of those childhood years when I had a crush on her roller-skating persona of Dawn Lodge on the children's TV programme called No. 73.
Bird is a good film, anchored by a flawless performance from young newcomer Nykika Adams, but it's also one that has forced me to consider what exactly Arnold wants people to take from her films, and what exactly her motivation is. Because Arnold seems to write and direct characters that she doesn't fully understand.
Bailey (Adams) is not having the best time. Her father, Bug (Barry Keoghan), is too busy trying to plan his upcoming marriage to Kayleigh (Frankie Box). Her mother (Peyton, played by Jasmine Jobson) has ended up in a relationship with the violent Skate (James Nelson-Joyce). Bailey doesn't seem able to control anything around her, even her older brother (Hunter, played by another newcomer, Jason Buda) has a change in his circumstances that may grow the distance between them, but she might end up being able to help a man she encounters who says his name is Bird (Franz Rogowski). Bird is looking for his childhood home, hoping to find out some information about his mother and father.
Before I say anything critical here, I think it's important to praise those in front of the camera who deserve praise. Adams is the star, and she surely has a great career ahead of her, but both Keoghan and Rogowski are actors who rarely put a foot wrong, both doing more good work here, while Jobson, Box, Nelson-Joyce, and Buda all do exceedingly well to even just hold their own alongside such talented performers. There's nobody here I can complain about, which helps to make up for the strange and weak script from Arnold, who I'm not sure understands her own characters in the way that she should.
Bailey is great, and her character and actions seem nicely consistent with who we learn she is, at her core, as the film unfolds. I'd also say that Kayleigh is just as good, and perhaps this shows Arnold having a natural instinct towards writing her female characters so much better than the males. Peyton is a bit confused, but she still feels like someone who is a natural part of the world we're being shown. The men, on the other hand, all have big problems. Bug has some daydream about using slime from a toad to make enough money to pay for his upcoming marriage, which is a plot point apparently dropped in favour of a third act that just expects everyone to stop being invested in the outcome, and he's also interested in impressing his bride with the kind of song and dance number that feels absolutely pulled from some other movie. Maybe I have just never met enough people like Bug, but I've met a few in my lifetime, and none of the men cut from that particular cloth would even think of trying out the singing and the moves that Keoghan's character works on. Bird isn't as bad, helped by Rogowski being an even better fit for his role, but he's also the typical quirky interloper who brings about some education and change in the life of our lead. He feels quirky for the sake of being quirky, and I'd once again say that the central friendship between Bailey and Bird wouldn't be allowed to last longer than an afternoon once people around her saw the age difference and started to ask questions. As for Skate, he's a panto villain from his very first scene. He's believable though, scarily so, but his placement within the film doesn't really deliver the satisfying journey for anyone that Arnold must have been aiming for.
There are moments here that impress, and I enjoyed one turn in the third act that many others may find completely off-putting, but they never feel part of a satisfyingly cohesive work. Perhaps Arnold would have been better taking various characters and strands to weave into an anthology format, or perhaps spread everything over the kind of runtime afforded by a limited series. She opted to helm another feature film though, and it's her most disappointing work since her adaptation of Wuthering Heights.
6/10
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