Andrea Arnold’s Unique Filmmaking Vision
Having been a filmmaker for about 20 years, Andrea Arnold work still proves to be different in voice and perspective. Her latest movie, Bird, makes its to North American debut at Telluride after screening in Cannes. In Bird, Arnold returns to the theme of people who hardly ever catch the eye of an average passersby – actually, working class teenagers in deep distress.
The film places focus on Bailey, a twelve-year-old girl played by Nykiya Adams, who is struggling with common problems and the consequences of her parent’s decisions. Things get more complex for Bailey when she finds out that her father is getting married and she has to face emotions that are more painful than she is not ready for. Andrea Arnold evokes such emotion towards Bailey that makes the audience live in her world, with new struggles and perceptions that come with being a girl in an unkind neighborhood.
Bird is a combination of two completely different stories. On one level it offers a dirty family saga showing the unpleasant section of the British working class. Andrea Arnold does take off the scab about this world that includes street gangs, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and domestic abuse. These inadequacies styles the film’s narrative in a bitter truth, one which illustrates the social ills that reside among the people in the cities.
The Enigmatic Encounter
On the other hand, Bird also brings a magical twist to Bailey’s story with her meeting with a character who goes by the name Bird, played by Franz Rogowski, this character makes the story more interesting. Bird who Bailey assumes to be part ‘woman’, part ‘bird’, represents an escape from the miserable life she is trapped in. Such a fantastical meeting enables the viewer to further imagine and stretch one’s perception to the possibility of seeing everything that Bailey has been going through in a different perspective.
Andrea Arnold Bird is remarkable not only in storytelling but also in its integration of magical elements within a realistic setting. The film provokes one to think about growing up amid cynicism but also exercising one’s creativity alongside the fascination that the unfamiliar may present. Andrea Arnold, through Bailey’s perspective, allows the audience to tread on a thin line that separates cruel reality and sweet fantasy.
The narrative threads in *Bird* intertwine seamlessly, with each storyline intricately connected through the lens of Robbie Ryan’s cinematography. Ryan’s work elevates the film, capturing the stark, haunting beauty of the environments where the story unfolds. From the desolation of abandoned flats to the wild overgrowth of untamed fields and the bleakness of a grimy beach, Ryan transforms these settings into a visual symphony that underscores the film’s themes. His camera lingers on the small details, finding unexpected grace in the neglected corners of the world. This poetic appreciation of the natural world permeates the film, reflecting through moments like Bailey’s awe at a butterfly, her fascination with a wild horse, and her enigmatic bond with Bird, a character whose connection to the untamed is both literal and symbolic.
A Storyline That Feels Familiar
Truly, the film has great imagery and clearly modeled all the intersecting stories. However, the audience is bound to feel that everything is becoming too predictable. The story walks an all-too-familiar path as if telling the tales of various Berdache women who have endured and learned to build their inner strength despite the clichéd barriers that seem unbearable. While the work addresses complex concerns of solitude, determination, and self-discovery, on some occasions, it appears to revisit a space which it feels has been done too many times. The Andrea Arnold story uses several of these conventional ideas which sometimes can stand in the way of the novelty of the picture and the ideas themselves.
Andrea Arnold discovery, Nykiya Adams, is a brave young actress who manages to blend so insurmountably controlled rage and frail rawness while portraying Bailey. It was only to be expected that her performance would be imbued with a restraining ferocity. Still, for most of the film, Bailey is an incomplete character, slightly wayward in her own tale as her emotions are too carefully repressing themselves which makes the viewers even more frustrated from wanting more. It is only after the third act that the audience witnesses the untaming of Bailey by Adams bringing out her insatiable rage and letting it out in all its fury to the satisfaction of the viewers. Much as this argued add dimension to the character, it also complicate matters for the development of the film as there is high chances of disappointing the audience due to prolonged distance with the character.
The Poetic Connection to Nature
Andrea Arnold Bird earns the right touch of angst, and yet does not come across as feeling rather extreme. The movie’s efforts to explore Bailey’s psychology and the conflicts she faces with the surrounding world are commendable, true, and concerned with the story within its body, now and again, may seem clumsy. The narrative must sustain both subtlety and urgency, and though the film manages this more often, it does from time to time slip into melodrama. This is felt mainly in the way the plot addresses Bailey’s problems, which, despite being legitimate, seem at best to fall into stereotypes and cliches.
Centering on the theme of belonging, which surfaces throughout the film, Nature becomes one of its most powerful motivations. Bailey was presented as a poète or bizarre fantast such that her interaction with nature starkly differs from the dullness of her environment. All these moments provide Bailey with natural beauty in which she finds peace and attachment that she lacks elsewhere. Be it the awe of a butterfly, the super bull-watching a wild horse, or even Bird who Bailey has a fondness to, it is such scenes of nature that give the film its most poetic and emotional scenes. They allow some insight into Bailey’s thoughts and how she is amazed by things and also wishes for something beyond her reality.
The Intrigue of Magical Realism
The use of magical realism is one of the most fascinating features of the film with the audience being left to wonder if the fictional character, Bird, is real or just a vivid imagination of Bailey. This constant reference to the real world is what gives this film originality, the character Bird being a source of both allure and safety in the chaotic world of Bailey. Franz Rogowski, who plays Bird, relates with his role depicting a bird, his actions, and being on screen appearing transfigured. His performance spanned from awkward positioning to nigh stillness, making Bird’s character eccentric yet surprisingly reassuring. He is however still very bizarre and his fuzzy give Bailey a sense of security when in his midst, enhancing her affinity towards this stranger.
Of great note in the film remains the magical realism, yet the standout has to be Barry Keoghan. This is the reason why Keoghan has the ability to become every character he plays, and even more so when it comes to Bug. The research shows that most of his performances are based on experience, since he had to borrow a lot from himself—starting with his mother’s death when he was only 12 to spending almost 7 years in a foster care system. This in turn leaves Bug with an effect that is so much more rough and volatile than before, making him an unpredictable and in a sense interesting character.
Bug is a character torn between his desire to be a good father and the distractions of his own romantic entanglements and career ambitions. Keoghan captures this internal struggle with a nuanced performance, making Bug a character who is at once sympathetic and frustrating. His portrayal adds depth to the film, providing a counterbalance to the more fantastical elements embodied by Bird.
Keoghan’s Mastery of the Absurd
Barry Keoghan is no ordinary man when it comes to the embrace of absurdity as he does with the character Bug. In one of the film’s most outrageous and enjoying parts, Bug is seen attempting to extract “slime” from a toad, a hallucinogenic substance that he intends to market. Despite the naivety of the idea’s execution, Keoghan injects such derring-do in the execution that it is bewildering in the oscillation of reality to dream. It is because of this that he typically comes out as a very weird version of a very normal human. His natural inclination toward playing eccentric, unconventional characters makes him perfect for moments like this, where he serenades his toad with an almost childlike sincerity, flaunting his tattoos as if they’re his armor against the world. Throughout the entire film, Bug is only seen wearing a shirt in a single scene, underscoring his raw, untamed nature.
There is a sense of warmth in Keoghan’s handling of this character, Bug, even though its eccentricity and rudeness defy all conventional expectations of a villain. Bug is a classic case of a dad who knows all too well that he is unable to strike a balance between being a dad but there are sincere attempts on him trying to be the father he ought to be for his kids. Keoghan makes it clear that Bug is not just a chaotic whirlwind but is actually a very mislead and caring patriarch who loves his family in the god of war. This bend of unexpected softness makes Bug more than just an eccentric character. He is a man torn between his fearless personality and real emotions of loyalty and the need to take care of loved ones even if the way he goes about it is all wrong.
Keoghan’s Performance
While Barry Keoghan’s outstanding performance tends to overshadow other aspects of the film, one must remember that even his gift cannot completely pull the film away from its original. Bird which is a little less than 2 hours long and, nevertheless, takes an abnormally long while to top its regular duration. Such a slow pace makes the movie come off as slow and gives the feeling that the movie has taken too long than necessary, which is becoming common in contemporary films. However, when a movie with an average length feels interminable, the issue is far more pronounced, highlighting deeper problems in its storytelling and pacing.
There are sections of the film that defeat its purpose and portray glimpses of what Bird is; the butterflies and the little islands of green that distract Bailey. These brief flashes provide respecting and coiling anticipation of the rather more distressing and intense potential that is behind them in the story. Still, for all that, the film never rises above being good enough. The film comes off as unsatisfying in that instead of giving a close or an interesting close to the film it sinks more into confusion and bewilderment which leave the audience confused than motivated.
Conclusion
Bird is a film that provides for gripping visuals and delightful environments. Cinematography by Robbie Ryan, in this case is particularly noteworthy, for its delightfully capturing each and every detail of beauty and desolation within the film’s settings. Yet, the film, though interesting in plot, tends to follow too many clichés and does not afford the audience to experience the psyche of the main character. Nykiya Adams is strong in many of the scenes, especially towards the later stages of the film, but the wretched quiet made towards the middle of the film, may cause a rift for the audience. All in all, Bird is a film that has sumptuously rewarding images and emotions — only that value is sometimes a hindrance to the little pleasures the film tries to deliver to the audience.
