London Film Festival 2024 – Bird ★★★★

Released: 8th November 2024

Directed: Andrea Arnold 

Starring: Nykiya Adams, Franz Rogowski, Barry Keoghan, Jason Buda, Jasmine Jobson

The setting and context of Bird—a working class British area with lively characters facing issues such as poverty and crime—is nothing new for Andrea Arnold, but her latest still feels like a breath of fresh air from the seasoned director—and that’s even before some major and fascinating injections of magical realism. Boosted by two mesmerising performances from Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski and a stunning turn from newcomer Nykiya Adams, Bird is a rich film of many interconnected plots and overarching themes and emotions. Few other releases this year will feel as textured as this one.

Adams plays Bailey, a 12-year-old living in a squat in Gravesend, Kent, with her brother, Hunter (Jason Buda), and father (Keoghan’s heavily-tattooed Bug). The opening shot of Bird is of a flock of seagulls flying in the sky, captured from Bailey’s viewpoint through the ugly metal of a caged bridge. Symbolism such as this may be obvious, and it is something Arnold returns to throughout her film, but this makes it no less powerful. Bailey’s life is difficult: her young father, who had Hunter when he was 14, turns to drugs to make some money, has a combative, often vicious relationship with his daughter, providing no security or safety to either child.

It isn’t the first time Arnold has captured the drab concrete of Britain’s buildings in such starkness, such as in Red Road (2006), but it may well be her most detailed snapshot of such a place. Shot in a cinéma vérité style on haunting, handheld 16mm by DOP Robbie Ryan, Bird is an outstanding, restless, and deeply textured portrayal of Britain. The jittery camera is either following Bailey or other characters, or observing the goings-on of the housing estate. It’s a kinetic observer, bolstered by swift and punchy editing, but also has moments of rest and reflection. And where Red Road seemed only drenched in dull greys, Bird has real moments of beauty too, with the colour consistently going from drab to bright.

A weaving character tapestry, Bird is propelled forward further when Bailey meets Franz Rogowski’s titular character. Arriving mysteriously on the estate in search of his long lost parents, he represents kindness and hope; Arnold continuously captures Rogowski in contrast to the concrete buildings and harsh environs. The actor is tremendous, giving Bird a mesmeric and beautiful tenderness. In contrast is the reckless chaos of Bug; Keoghan is a perfect fit for this boisterous, uncontrollable lout, whose emotions, both good and bad, are worn in clear view of everyone.

In a film involving two of the world’s hottest talents in Keoghan and Rogowski, it is impressive that Adams and Buda are also so memorable in Bird. The latter is in more of a supporting role, but is still deeply effective as a troubled young man with a lack of parental guidance in his life. Adams, the star of the film, is marvellous, her physicality mirroring Bailey’s increasing frustration with her situation alongside some subtle and moving emotional moments.

Whilst Bird is, on the surface, in the same social-realist vein as other Arnold films like Fish Tank (2009), it also commits to some massive experimental angles. Bird’s character, and whether or not he is real, is constantly called into question, before a final act that shifts dramatically into something otherworldly. It romanticises the plot a little, and simplifies the hard experiences of people living like this in the real world, but Arnold commits to it so forcefully that it ultimately works. It contrasts with everything that has preceded it, but also firmly compliments it, enhancing both the beauties and the struggles of Bird.