It can be hard to follow every new and working auteur director emerging in the space. Even ones with established filmographies with films I probably should have seen but simply haven’t can be hard to follow all the time. That’s important to establish since I am approaching her latest film having not seen her previously critically acclaimed “American Honey.” Being even more honest, this is the first Andrea Arnold film I’ve seen, so I’m approaching her new film with fresh eyes and an unfamiliarity with her visual storytelling. After nearly 8 years away from the camera, she returns to the screen with her latest outing “Bird,” a touching coming of age drama with some abstract, surrealist flare. Powered by a terrific cast, the film can’t quite balance its fantasy and reality, resulting in a kind of messy narrative that overemphasizes its visualized themes with far too many drone shots of birds flying in the sky.
It’s perfectly fine to inject your themes visually – it’s a visual medium after all – but “Bird’s” unique style gets in the way of its rather standard coming of age framework. It’s unfortunate too, because Arnold has something special here with her cast and basic story that could really make “Bird” soar if its wings weren’t clipped by its more abstract ambition. Written and directed by Andrea Arnold, the film follows 12 year old Bailey (newcomer Nykiya Adams) living in the slums of the UK with her father Bug (Barry Keoghan), a street hustler and drug dealer always looking for the next get rich score. Her mother Peyton (Jasmine Jobson) is a drug addict living nearby in a trap house and her half brother Hunter (Jason Buda) runs with a local gang she is not welcomed to join, leaving her without any real home or place of belonging. As she wonders the city in search of freedom from her harsh life, she encounters Bird (Franz Rogowski) a mysterious, child like man in search of his family. Together, Bird and Bailey weather the storms that come with such a harsh upbringing, and through this unlikely friendship, she may just find happiness in the life she has.
Beloved cinematographer and frequent Yorgos Lanthimos collaborator Robbie Ryan (“The Favourite,” “Poor Things,” “American Honey“) reunites with Arnold here to create a truly immersive atmosphere of trapped apartment complexes and open fields of freedom. For Arnold’s confidence behind the camera, she knows where it is suppose to be at all times and knows how to get the best and most out of each and every performer. Likewise, Ryan knows how to capture what Arnold asks, making “Bird” and excellent marriage of craft and vision. There are some truly equisite shots here in-between the constant cut away to birds flying high. it’s a little too on the nose and happens often enough to notice and then keeps happening to the point of distraction. “Bird” struggles to balance its more fantastical elements and artistic styling with its grounded reality of Bailey’s self discovery through her difficult life.
These things clash against some magnificent performances, too. Adams is certainly on the breakout star list, commanding the screen and imbuing Bailey with tremendous nuance. “Bird” hinges a lot on Adams’ work, and she thankfully sheds any worry of youngness or inexperience, wholly embodying the struggles, highs and lows of Bailey’s slice of life story. It helps too that she is paired with Franz Rogowski, the always wonderful german actor with brings such a soft spoken tenderness and mystery to his performance. “Bird” brings out his softer side, especially in contrast to his self absorbed, self destructive work in “Passages,” and while things surrounding his character don’t quite work in the final act, Rogowski is beautiful throughout as he quietly displays depth with every look. I enjoy Barry Keoghan as much as the next person, but “Bird” may very well be his most accessible and normal character he’s portrayed in his entire career.
Even as a tattooed, impulsive drug dealing father who plans to fund his new wedding with a drug toad, “Bird” brings out the best Keoghan has to offer. He’s actually charming instead of off-putting, and as dangerous and rough around the edges as Bug is, also manages to display a sense of humanity and genuine love for his children. Keoghan is rarely bad, but he is excellent in “Bird.” The film can’t quite hold all of this together, though. Despite an incredible cast firing on all cylnders, a confident understanding of young struggle from Arnold, and the best of best in cinematography from Ryan, it is the ambition that keeps “Bird” from taking flight. The tonal shifts from unexplained fantasy story beats injected without warning against a grounded backdrop never quite mix, leaving you more confused than intrigued or pensive. “Bird” wants to be all things, and maybe that’s just how Arnold writes and directs her work. If so, then I would say that only half of it appeals to me.
Those clashes of tone bring the pace to a screeching halt, and “Bird” meanders about in ways that don’t always feel compelling. Very few of the subplots introduced have payoffs, even as everything comes to a dramatic and violent head in the third act. The constant push and pull between fantasy and reality leaves you wishing “Bird” just picked one or the other to go all in on, streamlining either its absurdity to the point of surrealism or staking its ground in heartbreaking yet hopeful reality. Forcing both to co-exist scene to scene muddles the efforts of both, leaving “Bird” wanting instead of satisfying.
Craft and performance are keys to the success of “Bird,” and there is a lot to like across the board with Arnold’s assuredness in her vision powered by one of the industry’s best visionaries. The lead performances are all brilliant, it’s just a shame that “Bird” as a whole can’t come together cohesively enough to match.
It may not all work, but “Bird” is still something worth seeing even if it’s simply to catch Nykiya Adams early and on her way up. Also, “Bird” sports one of the best Coldplay needle drops ever, so there’s that too.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
“Bird” is playing select theaters Nov 15th. You can watch the trailer below.
