Only out in cinemas last month, the blend of coming-of-age drama, crime thriller and fantasy has an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Barry Keoghan’s acclaimed and most recent movie Bird is now available to watch at home.
Currently streaming on Mubi – the service devoted to showcasing less mainstream cinema – the film revolves around Bailey (newcomer Nykiya Adams), a 12-year-old girl living in a squat in a rough council estate with her chaotic, drug-dealing young father Bug (an electric Keoghan).
Approaching puberty and seeking attention and adventure, Bailey seeks to join a gang of youths that also includes her half-brother Hunter (Jason Buda).
Her life is transformed, however, when she encounters Bird (an absolutely hypnotic Franz Rogowski), an enigmatic stranger on a journey of his own.
Written and directed by Oscar-winner Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish Tank, Red Road), Bird’s unusual blend of coming-of-age social realist drama, crime thriller and fantasy tale – as well as its lack of narrative clarity – won’t be for everyone.
That said, for those who enjoy more adventurous films, there is lots to like about Bird – including Arnold’s gritty immersive direction, the movie’s performances, its soundtrack (including Blur, Fontaines D.C. and The Verve) and its unpredictable story.
It also features an incredible subplot in which Keoghan’s Bug, in a hare-brained get-rich-quick scheme, buys a frog that when it slimes releases a hallucinogenic property.
As such, Bug and his friend (played by Fontaines DC’s Carlos O’Connell) keep playing different types of songs for the frog, in an effort to try and get it to slime – including Blur’s ‘The Universal’ and Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’.
And in one of these scenes, there is quite a funny reference to an iconic scene from Keoghan’s earlier film Saltburn.
Holding a 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes, here is a sample of some of the positive reviews Bird has earned from critics.
Chicago Reader: “Writer-director Andrea Arnold establishes a rich world of complicated characters and beautiful, poetic moments.”
The Daily Beast: “Barry Keoghan is arguably the most electric actor working today, and he absolutely ignites Bird.”
iNews: “Fish Tank director Andrea Arnold returns to kitchen sink realism – and finds freedom and joy over darkness.”
Observer (UK): “Having long inhabited the gritty, social realist end of the spectrum, Arnold ventures into magical realism for the first time. If, like me, you’re somewhat allergic to the genre in its more twinkly and whimsical forms, fear not: this version has teeth.”
Rolling Stone: “Bird may be the most divisive movie of Andrea Arnold’s career, and we’re including the gloriously feral 2011 adaptation of Wuthering Heights. But like everything else she’s done to date, it’s also rewarding in unexpected ways.”
Having only released in UK cinemas just last month, Bird is streaming on Mubi now.
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