Lofty acting soars into flight in the captivating ‘Bird’
Young women surviving amid extreme economic hardship have no stronger advocate than Andrea Arnold. The Oscar-winning filmmaker (“Wasp”) fully understands the struggle when dreams collide with the harsh realities of abject poverty and splintered homes. Like us, she’s amazed by their resistance against the tide of crime, drug addiction and irresponsible parents who put their needs above those of their children.
With “Bird,” her fourth narrative film and the first since 2016’s “American Honey,” Arnold again captures the precarious nature of hope, this time in the projects of Kent, where the forgotten and ostracized members of society have been conveniently consolidated. Among them is 12-year-old Bailey (impressive newcomer Nykiya Adams), the child of parents who were children themselves when she was conceived.
She lives with her irresponsible dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan in a characteristically stirring performance), who true to his nickname is covered in tattoos of insects. Barely into his late 20s, his idea of providing for Bailey and her older half-brother, Hunter (Jason Buda), is engaging in a money-making scheme involving the sale of hallucinogenic slime off the back of a toad he carries around in a plastic bag. It’s telling that all the proceeds will go to him rather than his children. Somebody’s got to foot the bill for his impending nuptials to his latest fling, Kayleigh (Frankie Box).
If you’re wondering why he has custody of Bailey instead of her mother, Peyton (Jasmine Jobson), it’s probably because she might be an even worse guardian, as evidenced by her latest boyfriend, Skate (James Nelson-Joyce), an abusive piece of … ah … work prone to ordering around three of Bailey’s other half-siblings (all under the age of 6) fathered by similar deadbeats nowhere to be found.
Is it any wonder Bailey feels so abandoned – until the day she awakens in a field to discover she’s not alone? She’s being hovered over by an exceptionally gentle and soft-spoken man going by the name of Bird. He’s played by Franz Rogowski in a customarily brilliant piece of acting in which his gift for physicality is on full display, as he lends a perceptive avian quality to this mysterious man claiming to be searching for his family.
Is he real, or is he a personification of the father Bailey wishes she had? Arnold takes her time revealing the answer, but it doesn’t matter because either way, Rogowski makes you believe in Bird as much as Bailey does. Their symbiotic partnership – he provides her optimism and self-reliance and she assists him in locating his father – is more sentimental than what we’re accustomed to from Arnold and her previous films, “American Honey,” “Fish Tank” and the acclaimed documentary, “Cow.” But her unexpected shift into magical realism works, if you maintain an open mind.
Some have criticized her change in direction, but I found it daring, even powerful, although resolutions are reached too swiftly and conclusively. But there’s no doubting her ability to cast a spell, abetted by a terrific soundtrack consisting of “dad music” accentuated by her recurring use of Blur’s gorgeous “The Universal” and its refrain “It really, really, really could happen.” But I’m even more partial to the song’s lyric “No one here is alone.”
That is the message out there all along. Bailey just needs to find her ruby slippers. But she must first ford a stream of life’s muck before finally reaching the other side. Adams movingly conveys Bailey’s rebelliousness, whether it’s chopping off her mop of hair or boldly confronting the obnoxious Skate. Her ultimate victory is the bond she eventually forges with Bug and the grace she grants him with her understanding that what unites them is greater than what divides them.
As always, it’s Arnold’s mission that her heroines become better people, overcome their adversity and discover the hidden joy in their hearts. Bailey is no different. It’s just a bit harder when you’re that young and vulnerable in an adult world lacking in compassion and equality. Life may not be easy for her but compliments of Bird, she now knows she can fly.
Movie review
Bird
Rated: R for drug material, some violent content, language throughout
Cast: Nykiya Adams, Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, Frankie Box, Jasmine Jobson and James Nelson-Joyce
Director: Andrea Arnold
Writer: Andrea Arnold
Runtime: 119 minutes
Where: In theaters Nov. 8
Grade: B
