A Bird of the Air

A man finds a bird and tracks down its previous owners with the help of a traveling librarian. This is an interesting story that kinda makes me want to check out the book it's based on. And I don't even like birds.

I feel like this movie takes a search for identity in a unique direction and pulls off the romantic subplot more successfully than other films I have seen in this tone.

My biggest complaint is the characterization of the female lead. She has a manic pixie dream girl vibe going, and at times she seems obnoxious for no reason. I never really felt like I understood her the way I understood Lyman. There's also some narration that doesn't feel needed; it's not very consistent and it doesn't go all the way through the film.

That being said, I think this films succeeds more than it fails. Seeing Lyman develop and interact with more and more people felt gratifying to watch.

I have never before seen or even heard of either of the two lead actors. The male lead is sort of charming, and it would be nice to find out if his range extended into any other emotions as the story developed, or if he stayed locked in the same surly shyness all the way through. But the female lead is so unbelievably obnoxious that I couldn't get past about 25 minutes.

EVERY TIME she came on screen and opened her mouth or gave that stupid dimply smirk I cringed, and I wanted some berserk extra to run up and punch her very hard in the face. Nobody ever did, and I couldn't stand any more of her, so I stopped watching. It's not like I HAD to watch this movie.

It's amazing that such an obnoxious person ever got hired to be in anything, even a direct-to-video flop like this. I need to look up her name so I can be very sure never to see her again. Rachel Nichols. Yuck.

There were a lot of good moments in this movie. But how to describe it overall? Perhaps it tried to be just a little bit slice of life and just a little bit stream of consciousness? The two leads each did a great job and they worked well together. I thought it was fairly well written. And the subtle humor moments were perfect! Pretending for a moment that I can tell for sure, I thought the directing, the editing, even the camera work were all mostly quite well done too.

On the rating, there was one sex scene that could have been (should have been) toned down. There's always something bizarre about our entertainment world and their ratings always trying to overtly sexualize kids. Why give 13 year olds a short snippet of a super sexualized moment to take notice of? Well there are a few obvious guesses, none of them good. Why for any of us across all ages? Most aren't after vicarious sex for a lovely, healthy sex life. There's naturally a lot of questioning across the land about the healthiness of relationships among those who think we all need a lot of vicarious sexuality. And there are a lot of face palms out here in the world.

This film was a library recommendation and I liked it so much that I watched it twice before returning it. The dialogue pacing was near perfect and the chemistry seemed effortless between the leads and everybody now that I think of it. Cinematography spot on keeping the focus on on the actors including the animals. Lighthearted score kept the drama from being too much and the comedy grounded. Rachel Nichols nailed it. Jackson Hurst got the tune of his character perfect as well. The film gently engaged my emotions without me realizing it had. As the end of the movie approached I really did care what happed to the characters even fairly minor ones. It was a true pleasure to see Anjanette Comer who I have seen in decades and Buck Henry a classic. Once the film was over I wondered what happened next. Too bad it's too late to do a bad quirky series that would only last half a season but give fans like me little more of a good thing. Great job Ms Nichols, Mr Hurst and director Margaret Whitton (i think the only movies this gifted character actor directed). I do hope that you were all proud of this fine work.

and little more. a bird, a search and a couple. the story is, in same measure, adorable, credible, sweet and wise. a kind of parable about life beauty and sense. and a not little role for its success remains the work of Rachel Nichols and Jackson Hurst chemistry. a film with all spices who gives to its public joy and few crumbs of cinnamon. and a not bad script who creates interesting characters and gives precision to details and inspired rhythm to atmosphere. histories, humor, duty and love. in a perfect package. that is all. is it enough ? in this case, strange fact, the answer may be yes. only for few animals. and a green bird.