Tracker Pixel for Entry

Arnold takes flight with ‘Bird’

Cinema | December 2nd, 2024

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

The Oscar-winning writer-director Andrea Arnold returns to scripted, feature-length fiction filmmaking with the quintessentially Arnoldian “Bird,” an unsettling coming-of-age tale set in the hard-edged environs of northern Kent. Arnold’s own personal history, which includes teenage parents and a council estate residency during childhood, has previously inspired the autobiographical impulse in her filmmaking. The fantasy elements that govern the imagination of lead character Bailey (Nykiya Adams), a neglected 12-year-old who fends for herself in a rundown squat with older half-brother Hunter (Jason Buda) and erratic father Bug (Barry Keoghan), might just represent our protagonist’s coping mechanisms.

Bailey is not particularly impressed when Bug announces plans to marry Kayleigh (Frankie Box), his girlfriend of a mere three months. And if that news isn’t stressful enough, Bailey’s mom Peyton (Jasmine Jobson) has partnered up with the awful Skate (James Nelson-Joyce), a verbally and physically abusive lout with a hair-trigger. Amidst the trauma, the mysterious vagabond Bird (Franz Rogowski) rises like an otherworldly phoenix from the ashes of Bailey’s bleak reality to offer a series of distractions and a sense of purpose. The always magnetic Rogowski laces Bird with an aura that balances on the blade’s edge between childlike openness and simmering danger.

Critical reaction to Arnold’s incorporation of CGI (and custom contact lenses) to intensify Bailey’s visions of Bird has been surprisingly negative, but the construction of the title character by Arnold and Rogowski — who perches in the nude on a neighboring rooftop overlooking Bailey’s bedroom window — has befuddled and alarmed viewers unable or unwilling to accept the filmmaker’s fierce alignment with the messy complexities of adolescence. Bailey’s intricate gender evolution, which Arnold expresses with a sensitivity and subtlety diametrically opposed to Bird’s florid symbolism, provides a strong clue that the central character is working extremely hard to figure things out, including her understanding of more than one unorthodox father figure.

Arnold will use the two older men in Bailey’s life to startling effect. Without spoiling any of the sublime joys that unfold during the movie’s late stages, I would argue that Arnold is in complete command of these rare creatures. Expectations are, if not entirely upended, certainly tinkered with in glorious fashion; the entire duration of Bug’s wedding reception is a tour de force, a glistening sunshower powered by Keoghan’s rendition of Blur’s “The Universal.” Unsurprisingly, Arnold continues to match the right song to the right moment. Burial provides the instrumental backbone to the film and tracks by Fontaines D.C., Gemma Dunleavy, Sleaford Mods, and several others focus our attention at key points.

Along with the grown-ups who cause so much pain and confusion, Arnold populates “Bird” with fledglings who receive Bailey’s attention, care and concern. Bailey may still be a child in several ways, but she is functionally a parent to the younger siblings in her mother’s household. Bug’s status as a teenage father is echoed in Hunter’s predicament, a mirror Arnold uses to reflect the cycle of babies having babies. And the arrival of Bailey’s first period is yet another way that Arnold asks the viewer to think about the liminal space between innocence and experience. Arnold’s commitment to social critique remains, but a willingness to stretch her wings in the direction of something that transcends the everyday is a welcome addition to an impressive filmography.

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com Ten North Dakota communities will participate in the nationwide No Kings Day of Peaceful Action on October 18. The grassroots movement is a nonviolent protest against President Trump’s…

By Michael M. Millermichael.miller@ndsu.edu I would like to recognize some of the scholarly Germans from Russia from Canada and USA shared on the GRHC website. There are additional names not included here. If you have suggestions…

Friday, October 31, doors 8 p.m. show starts at 8:30 p.m.The Aquarium above Dempey’s, 226 N. Broadway, FargoThe annual Aquarium Halloween Cover Show is back and it is stacked. And this time there are a limited amount of presale…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com At the end of September, downtown Fargo said goodbye to another old friend; the Spirit Room closed its doors, marking the end of an era. The Spirit Room room has been a fixture downtown for the…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comAnother public health crisis besides guns: lack of empathyThe Sisters of Charity have finally had enough of their Trumper boss, Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. One of the most…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gion and Nichole Hensenrickgion@gmail.com The wait is finally over. Those who have visited Nichole’s Fine Pastry & Cafe lately know about the recent major additions and renovations that have taken place over the past…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.comNoémie Merlant, working from a script she wrote with Pauline Munier and her “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” collaborator Celine Sciamma, directs herself in “The Balconettes” (the…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Gallery 4 downtown recently celebrated its 50 year anniversary, making it one of the longest consecutively running galleries in the country. With different membership tiers, there are 17 primary…

Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com When we are sick, all we want is a cure. You go to the doctor, they give you a pill, you take it for a bit, then you are cured. It happens. But unfortunately, it is not always the case. …

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson@rocketmail.comMoral accountability and the crisis of leadership  As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in…