Film Review: BIRD: A Tender and Melancholic Coming-of-Age [London 2024]

Bird Review

Bird (2024) Film Review from the 68th Annual London Film Festival, a movie directed by Andrea Arnold, written by Andrea Arnold and starring Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, Nykiya Adams, Jason Buda, Frankie Box, Jasmine Jobson, Joanne Matthews, James Nelson-Joyce and Sarah Beth Harber.

Andrea Arnold returns with a sad and hopeful tale of a young girl’s coming of age. Set in a depleted and deprived town in North Kent, Bird takes us through the eyes of young Bailey (Nykiya Adams) in all the shades of her tumultuous and turbulent youth. While not perfect, there is a wonderful emotional sincerity to this film, Arnold capturing a burgeoning longing for companionship, the difficulties of poverty, and the weight on the shoulders of a young girl as she transitions into a woman.

There is a social realist aspect to Bird, a part of it exploring the lives of the poorer and working classes of England—not a thesis for the film, but a context in which Bailey’s story must inhabit. It permeates into her life as we see struggles of neglect and violence, where Bailey must wrestle with decisions and her place in this chaotic mess. There is a longing to her, imbued by the incredible Nykiya Adams who debuts with a powerful performance that manages to keep a strong sense of verisimilitude throughout the whole film, grounding it with emotional integrity. She is entirely watchable throughout the whole film, quiet and loud in equal measure.

The film is obvious in its imagery at times, the symbol of a bird being that of freedom and escape from a life of inattention, but the film’s emotional sincerity keeps it constantly afloat. Franz Rogowski works beautifully beside Adams as their characters form a gentle connection. He imbues a wonderful human tenderness to the role, a gift of kindness to Bailey who is a witness to gang violence and domestic abuse. They exist in these spaces of brutalist urban England, as well as its natural open fields and seasides. There is a contrast between the two, the latter acting as an escape from all the worry and violence, and yet it is still tinged with a sort of melancholy. This melancholy filters over the entire film, adding a soft sadness to its images. It creates further a sense of longing, but also one of hope, that arrives in the shape of Rogowski’s ‘Bird’.

It is an odd film at times. Bailey’s father, played by the weird and wonderful Barry Keoghan, spends most of the film trying to raise money for his wedding by importing a toad whose slime excretes a pricey hallucinogen. He does this by playing music, most of which are so-called dad songs. It is quite odd on paper, and yet it all mostly works, again because Bird has that wonderful emotional sincerity to images and performances. It climaxes into a moment of magical realism that wholly surprises, yet is powerful and earned.

It doesn’t all gel in the way it hopes to, but Bird truly has a lovely tone to its images and story. It is tender and human, anchored by the brilliant Adams and Rogowski who give the film its moving emotional core. The search for love and friendship between their characters is endearing and melancholic, hopeful and sad, alongside Bailey’s emotional journey through the film. A truly sincere entry from Andrea Arnold.

Rating: 7/10

Leave your thoughts on this Bird review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more London Film Festival news can visit our London Film Festival Page, our Film Festival Page, and our Film Festival Facebook Page.

Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page.

Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Feedly, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, Mastodon, Flipboard, and Threads.