BIRD

Awarded the prestigious Carrosse d’Or at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight for her accomplished style, Andrea Arnold brings fresh nuances in her fifth fiction film: without relinquishing her intense and poetic temperament, the story, with a clear social background, drifts towards fairy tales or magical (sur)realism. A 12-year-old girl, living in a squat on the Kent moors with her father (Franz Rogowski, Best Actor at SEFF 2021 for Great Freedom) and brother (Barry Keoghan, Saltburn) escapes the monotony and frustrations of daily life through her imagination when she encounters a friendly vagabond in a kilt. A fluid mise-en-scène and realistic cinematography by Robbie Ryan (a regular collaborator of Yorgos Lanthimos), who finds beauty from the rough, make this coming-of-age rara avis soar.