Bird (2024)

CinemaSerf

7.0

Nov 10, 2024

There are two lovely performances to enjoy in this story of the twelve year old "Bailey" (Nykiya Adams). She lives in a squat with her dad "Bug" (Barry Keoghan), brother "Hunter" (Jason Buda) and her soon-to-be stepmum "Kayleigh" (Frankie Box). It's that impending wedding, and the wearing of a pretty garish pink cat-suit, that puts her at odds with her well-meaning dad and sees her left to amuse herself amidst the fields of Kent. It's there that she encounters the rather enigmatic "Bird" (Franz Rogowski) who is looking for his parents who lived in a Gravesend tower block near her home. She dec…

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://movieswetextedabout.com/bird-review-a-thoughtful-study-of-the-fragile-line-between-innocence-and-adolescence/ "Bird is a raw, honest portrayal that, despite some pacing issues and a challenging blend of fantasy and reality, offers a deeply human experience elevated by Nykiya Adams' impressively genuine performance. Andrea Arnold controls her original narrative with an intimate, sensitive lens on the struggles and inner conflicts of a young girl in transition, highlighting both the complexities of adolescence and the fragile beauty of childhood innocence…

Andrea Arnold's return to fiction filmmaking with Bird is nothing short of magical. I'm admittedly biased — give me a dash of magic surrealism and I'm already halfway to being won over. But Bird soars well beyond mere genre appeal. At its heart, this is a coming-of-age story centered on Bailey, portrayed by newcomer Nykiya Adams in what can only be described as a revelation of a performance. It's not just me gushing here — Adams has already collected five Breakthrough Performance awards, and rightfully so. There's something raw and undeniable in her presence that makes me certain we'll be s…