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Bird


This is such a fine film and going in blind might just be the best way to see it. It's not that it's a twisty, spoilery mystery, just that sometimes knowing nowt about a film is the best way to appreciate it. Zero expectations and all. So if you want the same groundwork that I had, read no more.

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Ok. If you're still reading, let's kick off. This is Andrea Arnold's sixth feature and I really have to see more of her work. It's set in the Kent town of Gravesend, and boy, is that a suitable name for this place. Not far from London, on the river Thames, seems like it's wall to wall chavs out there. 


Bailey (Nykiya Adams) lives with her dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan), and half-brother, Hunter (Jason Buda) in a graffiti covered squat. Pissed off that Bug wants to get married to newish girlfriend, Kayleigh (Frankie Box), Bailey rebels and follows her brother and his mates on a small-time vigilante mission. Things get messy, she does a runner and ends up sleeping in a field.

Here's where the film enters its other-worldly phase. She notices an odd bloke wandering in the grass. He introduces himself as Bird (Franz Rogowski) and tells her he's looking for some people in town. Initially edgy, she sends him off, but then decides to follow. 


I don't really want to say much more for fear of giving something away, but I'll try to keep it to non-spoilers. Keoghan and Rogowski, being the most well known, will get the press, and are fantastic, but the film hangs on the brilliant central performance by Adams. The fact this is her first film makes it even more remarkable. Big future.

It has a nifty soundtrack (Blur, The Verve, Fontaines D.C., Sleaford Mods, and even a great rendition of 'sincere' Coldplay). There's also a sly little musical dig at a previous Keoghan film - see if you can spot it.


Themes of loyalty, family, and the yearning to escape are paramount throughout but I felt Bailey's character arc from truculent, angry kid on the verge of adulthood, to something more mature and serene was superbly written and played out. And this may all take place in a veritable shithole full of societal wrong'uns but as Hunter says to Bailey, "No-one is no-one."

The camera work is almost cinema verité, the ending nails the emotional hit, and there's also a fucking drug toad, if you need more. Arnold has a low-key masterpiece on her hands here. 

Bird is screening at the Russell Hobbs British Film Festival at Palace and Luna cinemas.

See also:

Like I plan to, you could investigate Arnold's catalogue (Red Road, Fish Tank, etc.), and Keoghan was in my favourite film of 2023, Emerald Fennell's Saltburn.
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