Bird

This film breaks conventions with its cinematography, using shaky, dynamic, and fast-paced shots. It's a stylistic choice I both loved and hated. The aspect ratio and filming format added an aesthetic that perfectly matched the film's gritty, raw tone. The plot is a montage of clips that feels nostalgic, weaving love, hate, drama, and conflict into Bailey's story.

The soundtrack, a fusion of rock, ambient, UK hip-hop, and indie, is another standout element, immersing you in the culture the film portrays. I was fascinated by the insights into Bailey's life - how she lives, the people she meets, and the culture that shapes her world. It's so removed from the experience of an average middle-class person, making it feel authentic and intimate.

At times, the narrative shifts between characters, leaving me unsure about the film's focus. Still, it's refreshing to see a story centered on flawed, raw characters. We're used to polished films with beautiful people, but Bird embraces the messy and the ugly - and finds beauty in it. The film feels deeply personal, leaving me with shared emotions and mixed feelings. While it may not resonate for everyone, its (symbolic) meaning is its true strength.

Is it a bird?

Yes.

Well that's that joke knackered then.

Andrea Arnold turns her directorial hand back to fiction filmmaking for the first time since 2016's excellent American Honey.

Bird follows Bailey (Nykiya Adams), a 12 year old girl growing up in a deprived area somewhere in England. Her dad 'Bug' (Barry Keoghan) is seemingly more concerned with his own life than that of his two children. This means Bailey and her older brother Hunter (Jason Buda) are for the most part left to their own devices. Hunter is part of a gang but Bailey is yet to find a friend that she truly connects with. That is until she meets Bird, a young man who's searching for his parents. They take solace in each-others family struggles and seek to help one another to resolve their family issues.

A lot of films that represent working class British life tend to show that despite not being financially well off, it is their family dynamics and by pulling together that keep each-other going. In Bird however family is the problem at the centre of the narrative. Whether it's Baileys dad being preoccupied with his new family or Birds lack of any family whatever-so-ever, they both find themselves alone. Alone in a scarily accurate world of deprivation where connection is essential for survival.

I'm trying hard not to spoil anything as there's so many plot ends going on that it would be easily done. Each of those plot points however blends seamlessly with the next keeping the viewer on the edge of their seat right from the start.

Barry Keoghan turned down Gladiator 2 to be in this film and without a doubt he made the right decision. Andrea Arnold has yet again crafted a depressing and yet hopeful look at a reality many people live through daily.

This unforgettable film seems to have very differing ratings. I loved it. Central performance of actress playing 12 year old Bailey was beautiful. Her character displays a kind of self-composure and inner strength, a steadiness amid a chaotic and volatile world. The actor who played Bird was also incredible. His performance is tender and vital. You almost feel his protective wings around you.

On the face of it, the film is a very real observation of the harshness of life in a deprived area of England, but somehow there is still beauty, hope, love and even magic to be found in this world. It doesn't romanticise poverty but documents the lives of the people who are struggling in this situation showing them as complete human beings who can be erratic, selfish, desperate but also loving, joyous and hopeful.

'Bird' has similarities to Andrea Arnold's earlier film 'Fishtank' where an alienated teen put herself in serious danger while trying to escape loneliness and domestic dysfunction. In this new work Arnold focuses on pre-teen Bailey who lives in a squalid squat with her father and an older brother. Her dad Bug is planning to marry his kooky new girlfriend, while her troubled mother lives nearby in even more chaotic conditions with a clutter of Bailey's younger siblings, a long-suffering pup called Dave and a violently abusive boyfriend.

None of the adults in her universe seem capable of providing much guidance, leaving Bailey to chart her own course. Following a row with Bug, Bailey shadows a gang of street kids engaged in some random criminality. After evading the police, sleeping in a field and being awakened by a horse, she encounters a kilted stranger called Bird. This eccentric itinerant had been born in the area, raised elsewhere and is trying to find a father he can scarcely remember. After some hesitation, Bailey decides to help him.

Nykiya Adams delivers a courageous and convincing performance in the lead role as Bailey's pursuit of Bird's quest mingles with other digressions, distractions and sub-plots. Her apparently aimless wanderings eventually arrive at a revelatory moment which is depicted in a brief passage where the film briefly departs from gritty realism and enters the realm of the fantastic. Somehow Arnold pulls off this trick, transforming her urban drama into an intense and memorable fable.

I'm from North Kent and I have thought about whether that biased my review.

But ultimately I think because I have first hand knowledge of all the locations and indeed the type of people shown I can confidently say this is one of the most believable portrayals of an area I've ever seen.

The use of mystery and mystical elements give this tale a unique twist and one that I've fell head over heels for.

The acting is truly amazing with the cast managing to stir a plethora of emotions in me.

This film is funny, heartwarming, heartbreaking and very intense.

I truly think Andrea Arnold could nail any genre with her direction.

The way no character is patronised for their circumstances makes me so proud to actually have been raised in very similar ways and still be a somewhat functioning adult.

This is highly recommended.