CANNES 2024 - remote notes

[Chris Knipp]

NIKIYA ADAMS IN BIRD

BIRD (Andrea Arnold)

In Competition.The soulful and critically acclaimed UK filmmaker - of AMERICAN HONEY (2016), FISH TANK (2009) and RED ROAD (2006) - was last in Cannes Competition for her immersive animal-POV doc COW in 2021. This new one is about a family, a coming-of-age pre-teen, and a neurodivergent person, played by Franz Rogowski. Barry Keoghan is a totally irresponsible single dad covered with folk art tattoos living in a squat in north Kent. When he, who's scheming to sell hallucinogenic toad slime, gets excited about remarrying to a potential step-mom she doesn't like, 12-year-old daughter Bailey (Nykiya Adams) seeks company elsewhere and finds Franz Rogowskii, a fey and rather odd kilt-wearing passionate bird fancier. Making the film was an experience, as an interview with Keoghan and Rogowski shows; in her own case a long and painful one, Arnold said in her acceptance speech for the Golden Coach award she received at Directors' Fortnight. Bradshow's 3/5 star GUARDIAN review shows admiration with reservation: a "chaotic social-realist adventure" he calls it, "with big, chancy performances, grimly violent episodes, tragedy butting heads with comedy and physical existence facing off with fantasy and imagination." He concludes it's "a minor Arnold, with fluency and energy." Owen Gleiberman reviews the film for VARIETY in a very personal way: he loved AMERICAN HONEY but dislikes this film, which, he says, turns a "feel-bad movie" into a "feel-good movie" but he never feels BIRD is a "totally authentic movie." A problem is the show-offy "star' qualities of both Rogowski and Keoghan. The latter (since SALTBURN) "gives off the awareness that he's a star." That was Bradshaw and Gleiberman. Nonetheless BIRD has been #2 or #3 on the jury grid. There was a seven-minute standing ovation after the BIRD premiere, and Leslie Felperin in her HOLLYWOOD REPORTER review is glowing, asying it's a film that sends the audience out "feeling giddy and a smidge weepy in the best sort of way." Jason Buda is also featured as Bailey's brother. There is a generally positive but reserved review (6.5/10 - he is unhappy with the ending) from BROTHER BRO of The Oscar Expert (Justin Jaeger)