Bird review: "Barry Keoghan further cements his rising-star status"

Bird
(Image: © Courtesy Cannes Film Festival)

GamesRadar+ Verdict

A personal, poignant work 🉐from Arnold that’s beautiful, un💧ique and full of surprises.

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Bird had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Here's our review...

"Mom said I was born looking for trouble," says Bailey (Nykiya Adams), the rebellious 12-year-old at the heart of writer/director Andrea Arnold’s latest drama. Turns out she doesn’t have to look far. Bailey lives in a north Kent in a squat with her dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan), who’s about to get married; he plans to pay for the wedding by selling the slime 🔜from a toad that’s said to contain hallucinogenic properties. 

Bailey’s mother Peyton (Jasmine Jobson), meanwhile, is living with a foul-mouthed, violent Scouser named Skate (James Nelson-Joyce). And her brother Hunter (Jason Buda) is part of a vigilante gang that Bailey wants to join. Then 𓆉Bailey meets Bird (Franz Rogowski), a "proper weird" loner who’s in the area looking for familial connections, and a tentative friendship forms. 

Delivering her first narrative feature since 2016’s 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:American Honey, Arnold initially seems to be retreading familiar social-realist ground, delving into poverty-stricken workiℱng-class lives. But in its second half Bird crosses into fable-like territory, with impressive results. 

Leading the charge is newcomer Adams, who gives a fierce turn as𒆙 Bailey, but performances are strong across the board. Keoghan, his body covered in tattoos, further cements his rising-star status by crafting another striking character, even giving a tender rendition of Blur’s ‘The Universal’ at one point. 

Rogowski (Passages) also fully inhabits his role; Bird is a figure of mystery who ultimately embodies Bailey’s coming-of-age arc. With cinematographer Robbie Ryan (澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Poor Things, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Favourite) finding beauty in e🔜ven the starkest of images, Bird takes flight quite brilliantly✃. 


Bird's release date is currently TBC. For more 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming movies, here's our list of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:2024 movie release dates.

Freelance writer

James Mottram is a freelance film journalist, author of books that dive deep into films like Die Hard and Tenet, and a regular guest on the Total Film podcast. You'll find his writings on GamesRadar+ and🉐 Total Film, and in newspapers and magazines from across the world like The Times, The Independent, The i, Metro, The National, Marie Claire, and MindFood.