While I was sad that this wasn't actually a film about the arcade machine that took most of my change whenever I was on a holiday trip to the exotic and sun-kissed land of Dunbar, the fact that it was a well-received drama with Saoirse Ronan in the lead role gave me some confidence that I would not regret my viewing choice.
Based on a memoir by Amy Liptrot, The Outrun is about alcoholism, and shows some of the many elements that can factor into that particular monkey that many struggle to shake off their back. Ronan plays Rona, a seemingly outgoing and hard-partying young woman who ends up in a very dangerous situation that serves as a wake-up call to how her drinking has impacted her life. She moves back from London to her childhood home in the Orkney Islands, hoping to recalibrate her life in a way that will allow her to find a spark of passion that was long ago drowned by the alcohol.
Although she has a number of films to her credit already, I am not familiar with the work of director Nora Fingscheidt, who also worked with Daisy Lewis and Liptrot to adapt the source material into a screenplay. Despite the difficult subject matter, I'm impressed enough by Fingscheidt to want to see more of her filmography. Jumping around in time, the film is structured to show the whiplash that can affect those who consider themselves to be having fun until that fun comes grinding to a halt, sometimes in the worst possible ways.
It seems redundant already to say how well Ronan does in the main role, considering how brilliant she has been almost every single time she has performed onscreen. She truly is brilliant here though, and some of her behaviour and erratic mood swings were scarily familiar to me, considering my own experiences throughout my life. Saskia Reeves is also doing her usual great work, playing a caring and concerned mother trying to tip-toe around a tricky issue that she doesn't quite know how to deal with, and Stephen Dillane is a father with his own particular mental health issues that require professional assistance. Paapa Essiedu is Daynin, a young man in London who struggles to maintain a relationship with our lead while her behaviour continues to worsen as she moves from one drunken spiral to another.
I'm currently coming up on five years of sobriety, and that was a choice made because of a pattern of bad choices when I ensured that alcohol was accessible to me. (and people often ask "can you not just have one drink on a special occasion?", to which I always say "yes, no problem, but that occasional one drink will eventually lead to that one big night out when I spend too much, stay out too late, and probably get myself in some sort of trouble") What The Outrun does well is show how things can build in a way that is much more obvious to onlookers than it is to the person just "having a bit of fun". It also works well in showing the rewarding satisfaction of fighting back, the ability you have to find new pleasure in things like a normal day without a hangover, a nice cuppa and chat with a friend or loved one, a lack of embarrassing memories or blackouts, and just a general appreciation of the world around you.
It's about problems stemming from alcohol, but just as equally applies to so many other afflictions that can sit on our shoulders like a crushing weight. I hope others watch it and either recognise how well they are doing with whatever life has dealt them or see what can lie ahead if they grit their teeth and expend even more energy just trying to bat away that little devil that keeps trying to whisper in your ear. It's not easy, and it's often not pretty, but neither is waking up the morning after a big night out with mysterious stains on your clothing, a damaged relationship, and no money left in your bank account.
8/10
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