Andrea Arnold combines her beloved topics and favorite obsessions in BIRD. The film is set in the run-down edge of town of Gravesend north of Kent, which connects the urban decay of RED ROAD and FISH TANK with the bleak, wild highland moors of WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Arnold finds a kind of poetry and also a, albeit fragile, sense of community wiithout glossing over the life circumstances of the protagonists. 12 year old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) lives in a junkie shared apartment with her half-brother Hunter (Jason Buda) and father Bug (Barry Keoghan), who is only in his early twenties and has his head in the clouds. He has just fallen in love and has a big plan to sell the secretion of an exotic toad to pay for his glamorous wedding. Bailey roams around to an eclectic pop soundtrack, visiting her mother and her two little half-sisters, but the house is not just filled with indifference, but violence. She drifts further and meets a lanky man who seems confused but also harmless. Bird (Franz Rogowski) wears an old skirt and knitted sweater and is searching for the house he was born in. At first, Bailey follows him out of curiosity, then they go searching together. Even more than in AMERICAN HONEY, Arnold focuses on atmosphere. There is the rough interaction between Bailey's roommates, there is the vast landscape in which the prefabricated buildings stand like seagull colonies, or a surprisingly tender moment between siblings. In Instavideos, Bailey captures everyday moments like poetry albums, she films out the window or a butterfly. With Bird, another magical element finds its way into the poetic realism of the setting.

Toni Ohms

Translation: Elinor Lewy