Well, this country is going down the toilet as the idea that the United States of America might not make it to its 250th birthday. Our dumb-fuck dictator has managed to make things worse as well as make everyone around him look and feel dumber. The events that happened this month is insane where describing it as chaotic would understate what is happening. There was the assassination of some guy I had never even heard of, nor do I care to hear about him. Honestly, fuck him, fuck his family, and fuck all his dumbass followers as he was a hateful piece of shit. What it led was an onslaught of anyone who said anything awful about Charlie Kirk would be fired or some dumb shit. Jimmy Kimmel got suspended by ABC because of something that he said, and it was not even offensive. Yet, the FCC chose to go after ABC who made the decision to suspend Kimmel only to bring him back over the money that got lost. We are living in some dark times and if there is an alternate universe or a bunch of alternate universes. We live in the worst timeline.
There is so much happening here in America and around the world as it is overwhelming to keep up as I have become indifferent about the state of the world as there is just too much negativity. I try to watch a bunch of things to get away from all of that though I am always aware of what is going on. Lately, it has gotten hard as my output in watching films has decreased immensely as I do not have much time and energy to watch feature-length films. Instead, I have been re-watching the first few seasons of King of the Hill as the revival got me to go back to the seasons I have watched and then watch the seasons I never got to watch.
In the month of September 2025, I saw a total of 12 films in 9 first-timers and 3 re-watches with one first-timer being a film directed or co-directed by a woman as part of the 52 Films by Women pledge. A decent month that included a highlight in my Blind Spot in The Mother and the Whore. Here are the top 8 first-timers that I saw for September 2025:
The first of three short films by Stan Brakhage that I saw on YouTube is a 3-minute short film that play into what an iris sees from its point of view. It is full of colorful imagery as it plays into the idea of what people see though everyone has a different view of what they see as it is among one of Brakhage’s finest short films.
The Wold Shadow
The 2nd short of Brakhage that I saw as this is one of two shorts I found on YouTube from the 1970s as it is another 3-minute short film. This time, it is set in a forest where it seems like an atypical Brakhage film because he shoots the forest as if nothing is happening. Then comes the shadows that would emerge where they add a sense of intrigue and suspense as they play into the many mysteries that is nature. Another great short film from Brakhage.
The Machine of Eden
The third and final short film from Brakhage that I found on YouTube that is also set in the 1970s is an unconventional short film though it is only available in its 8 ½-minute presentation instead of the original 11 ½-minute presentation. Still, Brakhage plays into the idea of a textile machine that would create nature. It is a daring and enthralling short film that also feature images of the Rocky Mountains as it is a must see for anyone interested in Stan Brakhage.
Los 4 Golpes
This obscure short film by Francois Truffaut that he made in 1962 and was considered lost for many years until it premiered in 2016 at a film festival in Argentina. It is a 3-minute short film that has Truffaut play a filmmaker trying to make a silent film about a hit where he plays the assassin. It is not one of his great short films, but it is still enjoyable and funny as it is surprising that it is now available for all fans of his work as it gives them one more film to finish his filmography.
Kumbha Mela
Originally shot in 1977 but was unreleased until 1989, Michelangelo Antonioni’s documentary short film about a traditional Hindu pilgrimage that takes place every 12 years. Considering Antonioni’s continuing observation of the overwhelming emergence of modernity, this short film highlights a tradition that is still happening amidst changing times. Antonioni also maintains his silence to let everything play out as millions of people gather at the River Ganges to cleanse themselves in the form of tradition before India would be swept away by the horrors of modernism. This is a true gem from one of cinema’s great masters.
Ballchewer
This 36-second short film from Paul Thomas Anderson made during the production of Punch-Drunk Love was originally filmed for Adam Sandler’s website in the early 2000s. It has Sandler’s pet bulldog Meatball playing a game with Luis Guzman while Emily Watson serves beer. It is a hilarious short by Anderson who was clearly just having fun with the cast and crew.
Wednesday (season 2, episodes 5-8)
The second half of the second season of the series plays into the return of Larissa Weems who becomes Wednesday’s new spirit guide much to Wednesday's dismay as it is so fun to watch Gwendoline Christie return as she is given a lot more to do. The series continues with more mystery as it relates to the dead body that Pugsley found and who that person is as it also relates to the character of Tyler Galpin and Galpin’s mother who was believed to have died. There is a lot of intrigue and suspense in the episode as one of the big standouts of the series is Evie Templeton as Agnes DeMille as a Wednesday fangirl who can turn invisible as she proves to be more than helpful for Wednesday as her dance routine with Enid to the new Lady Gaga song is great.
The highlight of the series is episode 6 in which Wednesday and Enid accidentally switching bodies as the respective performances of Jenna Ortega and Emma Myers are phenomenal. The first minutes of that episode killed me with absolute hilarity as the idea of Wednesday Addams dancing to Blackpink will never leave my head. They would show that moment again, yet it is Wednesday as Enid’s own reaction that made it even funnier. I absolutely will wait for the third season as it shows that despite Wednesday’s anti-social attitudes. She does care about those who are close to her as it also relates to what Enid has become and the dangerous situation she is in.
Well, that is all for September. Next month will be devoted once again to horror as well as suspense and other dark films since it is Halloween season. The next Blind Spot film I will watch is Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure while I have made a list of the films I hope to watch for the month. My Auteurs essay on Robert Eggers did hit a wall though I do hope to finish in October and then a take a bit of break to do James Gunn as it is likely that I will have Rebecca Miller set for the end of the year. Then I will get to Ari Aster and Damien Chazelle for the next year along with David Lean. As far as new releases are concerned, I am unsure what I will watch as I hope to watch Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Frankenstein on the big screen.
Before I bid adieu, this month has saw the passing of several notable figures with one towering above everyone and that is Robert Redford. Redford is the last of his kind in terms of the great movie stars as there are not a lot of that in today’s popular culture. Yet, Redford did more than just be this great presence in films as he also directed some amazing films as well as be an important figure for American independent cinema with the Sundance Film Festival. Without his part in creating that festival, I am sure American cinema would not be as interesting and who knows what careers would have been launched. Redford was also an environmental and an activist who always tried to fight for what was right even if he lost. The man was unlike anyone as well as someone who remained humble despite his fame. Thank you, Mr. Redford, we will miss you.
Another notable figure we lost this month is one of the greatest figures of Italian cinema in Claudia Cardinale who is truly one of the most beautiful women in the world and an actress that will never be replicated. While she achieved her greatest fame in the 1960s, she never stopped working until the 2000s as she remains this revered figure for world cinema. In the films she made as well as the great filmmakers she worked with, she was truly one-of-a-kind in terms of beauty and gracefulness. No matter what genre she was in, she delivered in every way as she will be missed. Grazie Claudia.
Other noted figures that passed away this month include filmmaker Henry Jaglom, Stuart “Stuey” George who was a roadie for David Bowie, film producer Ron Silverman, filmmaker Jorgen Leth, activist Assata Shakur who was 2Pac’s godmother, Silu Seppala of the Leningrad Cowboys, Sonny Curtis of the Crickets, Scottish DJ JD Twitch, music video director Diane Martel, Pat Crowley, Stephen Luscombe of Blancimage, Viv Prince of the Pretty Things, Swedish actor Per Mattsson, songwriter Bobby Hart, Polly Holliday aka Flo “Kiss my grits”, production designer Stuart Craig, Rick Davies of Supertramp, Mark Volman of the Turtles and Flo & Eddie, screenwriter Scott Spiegel, Graham Greene, and one of the greatest figures of fashion in Giorgio Armani. We will miss you all. This is thevoid99 signing off…
Based on the novel Vineland by Thomas Pychon, One Battle After Another is the story of a former revolutionary whose daughter is being pursued by a former enemy from his past. Written and directed for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film is an unconventional thriller in which a former revolutionary deals with his past just as he tries to save his daughter from a foe whom his former partner had encountered in the past. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, Alana Haim, Wood Harris, Tony Goldwyn, and introducing Chase Infiniti as Charlene Calhoun/Willa Ferguson. One Battle After Another is an exhilarating and gripping film by Paul Thomas Anderson.
The film is about a former revolutionary whose teenage daughter is being pursued by a corrupt military official who wants to eliminate her as he sees her as a threat to society as well as to be part of a secret white supremacist society. It is a film that explores a man dealing with not just the past as he was part of a revolutionary group until the arrival of his daughter who would become the target of this military official. Paul Thomas Anderson’s screenplay has a straightforward narrative yet there are elements in the narrative that plays into the chaotic atmosphere of underground revolutionaries. The first act introduces this group known as the French 75 where it is led by Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) who is a firecracker that always takes charge while her partner “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) is part of the group along with several others. During an event where they break out detained immigrants from a detention center, Perfidia meets the center’s commander Captain Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn) whom she seduces as he falls for her to the point that they would have an affair that eventually becomes troubling.
Even as Perfidia gives birth to Charlene where Calhoun chooses fatherhood over revolutionary activities. Perfidia would continue until a botched bank robbery has her captured as she reluctantly makes a deal with Lockjaw where Calhoun, Charlene, and a few others go hiding for 16 years. The film’s second act begins with the 16-year-old Charlene who is under the name Willa Ferguson living with her father who is now Bob Ferguson as he laments over his failure as a revolutionary as he drinks and smokes weed to cope with his failure. When Lockjaw is given a chance to be part of a secret society while being promoted as a colonel in handling immigration. He decides to pursue Charlene/Willa seeing her as a threat while capturing former surviving members of the French 75 where Willa would gain refuge from a former French 75 member in Deandra (Regina Hall) who rescues her at a school dance. Calhoun would learn about Lockjaw pursuing Charlene as he evades capture while also seeking help from Willa’s martial arts instructor Sensei Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro) who is also a community leader who shelters immigrants in his community. The third act is not just about revelations from Deandra about Perfidia but also Calhoun’s own issues about how he disconnected himself with the French 75 after what happened to Perfidia. Even with Lockjaw becoming a liability himself with the society he wants to be a part of.
Anderson’s direction is stylish in the way he opens the film on a highway in California where a detention center is held as it sets the stage for a whirlwind of genres to emerge within the film. Shot on various locations in California including parts of San Diego and Sacramento and El Paso, Texas, Anderson creates a film that is set in a modern world though it is inspired by events from the 1960s and 1970s in the way the French 75 create their robberies, bomb attacks, and other things all in the idea of revolution. The usage of wide and medium shots do play into the scope of the locations including scenes in the desert for much of the film’s third act that includes this entrancing chase sequence around these hilly desert roads. Anderson’s usage of close-ups add to the drama and suspense in the way characters interact with one another. Even in intense moments where Willa/Charlene finds herself in danger as she deals with her own situation as well as the danger of what her parents did.
Anderson’s direction also play into this sense of reality into the idea of revolution and its fallacies with Calhoun being burned out by his own experiences where he becomes disconnected with everything that is happening as he lives off the grid. Spending his time drinking beer, smoking weed, and watching old films to cope with failure as a person and as a father to Charlene/Willa feeling he has not done enough for her. There are elements of humor that Anderson puts in such as a house of the secret society that Lockjaw wants to be in as it is an odd scene considering how elaborate the whole set up is. The scenes in the second act where Calhoun and Sensei St. Carlos try to help immigrants and others while later going on the road through California while drinking beer shows some of the absurdity of two men who both try to do the right thing yet do some bad things on the road.
Anderson also employ the sense of reality in what Lockjaw is doing as he deals with capturing undocumented immigrants as well as create trouble during protests and riots in escalating things for his forces to deal with rioters in extreme measures. Even as there are scenes where the authorities interrogate people and push them to reveal information with threats as it has this air of realism. The film’s third act relates to Lockjaw capturing Willa/Charlene with Calhoun trying to find them displays the level of what Lockjaw will as he hired a bounty hunter in Avanti (Eric Schweig) who has his own issues in what Lockjaw wants to do with Willa/Charlene. Its ending is a wholesome one as it relates to what people can do in relation to activism but also remind themselves that they can make sure to not repeat the mistakes of the past. Overall, Anderson crafts a riveting and whimsical film about a former revolutionary trying to save his daughter from an evil military officer from the past.
Cinematographer Michael Bauman does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of available and lush lighting for some of the daytime exterior scenes set in the morning as well as scenes at night while creating some unique lighting for some nighttime interior scenes including the places that Sensei St. Carlos houses undocumented immigrants. Editor Andy Jurgensen does excellent in utilizing unique transitional dissolves as well as some jump-cuts to play into the suspense and humor as well as allowing shots to linger in some of the long shots. Production designer Florencia Martin, along with set decorator Anthony Carlino and supervising art director Andrew Max Cahn, does amazing work with the look of the home Calhoun and Charlene/Willa live in that feels remote as well as the secret room where the secret society have a secret meeting. Costume designer Colleen Atwood does fantastic work with costumes as it ranges from loose and stylish to play into the style of the revolutionary to a more buttoned-down look that Lockjaw and this secret society wears including polo shirts.
Special makeup effects artists Thomas Floutz and Christopher Allen Nelson do wonderful work for the look of a character late in the film that plays into the chaotic aftermath of everything this character went through. Special effects supervisor Jeremy Hays, along with visual effects supervisors Ed Bruce and Laura J. Hill, do terrific work with the special effects for some scenes involving some of the robberies and attacks as well as bits of set dressing for a few scenes set at night. Sound editor Christopher Scarabosio does superb work with the sound in capturing the atmosphere of the locations as well as how gunfire sounds from afar and up close as well as maintaining that sense of dread into some of the action as it is a highlight of the film.
The film’s music by Jonny Greenwood does incredible work with the film’s music score with its usage of orchestral arrangements and discordant textures that includes drums and percussions from his Smile bandmate Tom Skinner as it is a major highlight of the film. Music supervisor Linda Cohen creates a fun music soundtrack that mixes all kinds of music as it feature contributions from Jon Brion, Steely Dan, the Shirelles, Ramsey Lewis Trio, Sheck Wes, Travis Scott with Kendrick Lamar, Walk the Moon, El Fantasma with Banda Los Populares Del Llano, Survivor, Ella Fitzgerald, the Jackson 5, Los Panchos, Gil Scott-Heron, and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.
The casting by Cassandra Kulukundis is marvelous as it feature some notable small roles and appearances from Carlos McFarland, Elisabeth Pease, Colton Gantt, and Autumn Crosswhite as classmates of Willa who get interrogated, Tony Goldwyn, Kevin Tighe, James Downey, and John Hoogenakker as members of the secret society known as the Christmas Adventurers Club, Tisha Sloan as Willa’s teacher that Calhoun meets for a parent-teacher meeting, Starletta DuPois as Perfidia’s mother, Elijah Joseph Sambrano as a skateboarder named Latino Heat who helps Calhoun escape during an immigration raid, April Grace as a nun at a secret convent in Sister Rochelle, and Jena Malone in a voice cameo as the greeting code voice. Other notable small roles as members of the French 75 include Alana Haim as Mae West, Shayna McHayle as Junglepussy, Wood Harris as Laredo, Paul Grimstad as Billy Goat, and Dijon Duenas as Talleyrand. D.W. Moffett is terrific as a Christmas Adventurers Club member in Bill Desmond who is asked to take care of some problems for the society while Eric Schweig is superb as a Native American bounty hunter in Avanti who does some things for Lockjaw while he becomes uneasy about what he has to do with Willa/Charlene.
Teyana Taylor is fantastic as Perfidia Beverly Hills as a revolutionary leader who is full of intensity and charisma while also finding ways to seduce Lockjaw that would eventually get her into trouble. Even as she deals with becoming a mother as she has a hard time letting go of her revolutionary ideals. Regina Hall is excellent as Deandra as a former French 75 member who would save Willa/Charlene from being captured as she is also someone who is resentful towards Willa’s mother over how the French 75 was captured and disbanded. It is a performance that is reserved as a woman who knows the danger of what Willa/Charlene is facing as well as her refusal to compromise.
Benicio del Toro is brilliant as Sensei Sergio St. Carlos as Willa’s martial arts teacher who is also a community leader who helps Calhoun in trying to retrieve Willa through some conventional means. It is a performance where del Toro provides a lot of wit as well as some unique wisdom that would help Calhoun. Sean Penn is amazing as Steven Lockjaw as a corrupt military official with a terrible haircut and odd facial ticks that adds to his eccentric nature as he is also someone that is in love with Perfidia and her ass. Penn brings this element of dark comedy to his performance as someone that is trying to maintain a sense of power as well as his desire to be part of an elite society group.
Chase Infiniti is phenomenal as Charlene Calhoun/Willa Ferguson as a 16-year-old girl who is being pursued by Lockjaw because of who her mother as she deals with her newfound situation as well as revelations about her mother. It is a performance that carries a lot of youthful exuberance as well as someone who is trying to comprehend who her parents are and what she can do with her life while she is still young. Finally, there’s Leonardo DiCaprio in a tremendous performance as “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun/Bob Ferguson as a former revolutionary who has disconnected himself with the underground as he copes through drugs and marijuana over his failures while he is brought back to action when Lockjaw pursues Charlene. It is a performance where DiCaprio brings a lot of humor as well as someone who is just trying to makeup for his own failures as a man and as a father as it is one of DiCaprio’s finest performances of his career.
One Battle After Another is a magnificent film by Paul Thomas Anderson that feature a great leading performance from Leonardo DiCaprio and a breakout performance from Chase Infiniti. Along with its supporting cast, a riveting and somber screenplay, gorgeous visuals, Jonny Greenwood’s hypnotic score, and a killer music soundtrack. It is an unconventional yet rapturous film that bends all kinds of genres to create a story about a father trying to save his daughter from an evil figure from the past as well as deal with his own past as a revolutionary. In the end, One Battle After Another is an outstanding film by Paul Thomas Anderson.
Written, co-edited, and directed by Jean Eustache, La maman et la putain (The Mother and the Whore) is the story of a love triangle between a Parisian pseudo-intellectual, his tempestuous girlfriend, and a sexually-liberated woman as they deal with the intensity of their love triangle. The film is an unconventional romantic-drama that explores three people who all deal with being in a love triangle during a tumultuous period in France. Starring Jean-Pierre Leaud, Bernadette Lafont, Francoise Lebrun, and Isabelle Weingarten. Le maman et la putain is a riveting yet unsettling film by Jean Eustache.
Eustache’s direction is entrancing for its minimalist approach where there are not a lot of wide shots in favor of intimacy through its medium shots, close-ups, and static shots. Shot on location in Paris, Eustache creates a film that plays into the ideas of relationships between a man and two women as there are a lot of dialogues and monologues that occur. Notably as it would go on for several minutes during the film as the camera would often remain still. Eustache’s direction would rarely have movements in the camera unless the characters are walking in the streets or to go from one room to another. The approach to long shots and a minimalist presentation with a 218-minute running time would make scenes ponderous at times since Eustache wanted to create something that feels confessional. Especially given the subject matter and the many contradictions of these characters where Alexandre is pretentious in his views on art and sex, yet he is also someone that is also traditional. He is also a manipulative person in his attempts to women where it would frustrate Marie who can see through his bullshit even though she is just as bad as him.
Editing with co-editor Denise de Casabianca, Eustache would create a presentation that is the antithesis of the editing and filmmaking style of the French New Wave for a style that is akin to realism. It is a style that also sort of plays like a documentary even though it is fiction, yet Eustache does play into the sexual politics between men and women in how they view each other. Eustache also maintains a sense of ambiguity in its finale as it relates to Alexandre and his view on women where he still has a lot to learn about love, commitment, and understanding. Even though both Marie and Veronika are also flawed in their own views about sex and love, they manage it better than Alexandre who is full of contradictions. Overall, Eustache creates a compelling and unsettling film about a love triangle that becomes toxic.
Cinematographer Pierre Lhomme does brilliant work with the film’s black-and-white photography with its emphasis on realism in shooting on available light for some of the exterior scenes set at night as well as the way some of the daytime interior/exterior scenes are presented. Costume designer Catherine Garnier does excellent work with the costumes from the stylish clothing that Marie and Veronika wear to contrast their personalities with the latter often wearing all black. The sound work of Jean-Pierre Ruh, Paul Laine, and Nara Kollery do amazing work with the sound as it captures everything presented on location including the music that is played on film. Among the music that is played on the film ranging from classical music, pop, and rock from acts like Zarah Leander, Damia, Jacques Offenbach, Edith Piaf, Frehel, Marlene Dietrich, and Deep Purple with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The film’s marvelous ensemble cast feature some notable small and appearances from Jean Eustache as a man at a supermarket/Gilberte’s husband, Andre Techine and Jean-Claude Biette as a couple of men at a restaurant wanting to talk with Veronika, Genevieve Mnich as a friend of Veronika, Jean-Noel Picq as a fan of the composer Offenbach that Alexandre meets, Jacques Renard as a friend of Alexandre who shares the same intellectual views as Alexandre, and Isabelle Weingarten as a former girlfriend of Alexandre in Gilberte who is upset over Alexandre’s lack of commitment in their relationship. Francoise Lebrun is great as Veronika as a French-Polish nurse who is also sexually-open in her ideas of sex to cope with avoiding commitment until her affair with Alexandre has her thinking about wanting a relationship with him and Marie until she sees the many faults from Alexandre’s views on love.
Bernadette Lafont is phenomenal as Marie as a dress shop worker who allows Alexandre to live with her as she has a cynical view on relationships though she loves Alexandre while later becoming fond of Veronika in her openness in realizing Alexandre’s own faults. Finally, there’s Jean-Pierre Leaud in a tremendous performance as Alexandre as an unemployed intellectual who is in love with two different women where he is hoping to win them over with his own views only to be filled with contradictions about everything to the point that his attempts to manipulate his lovers become futile.
Le maman et la putain is an incredible film by Jean Eustache that features a trio of great performances from Jean-Pierre Leaud, Bernadette Lafont, and Francoise Lebrun. Along with its visuals, realistic and minimalistic presentation, and its study of sexual politics and desires in early 1970s France. The film is not an easy watch due to a presentation that requires patience as well as the fact that it goes into uncomfortable subject matters about sex and love. In the end, Le maman et la putain is a remarkable film by Jean Eustache.
Written and directed by Andrea Arnold, Bird is the story of a 12-year-old who is dealing with growing pains as she lives in near-poverty with her younger brother and single father as she tries to find herself in North Kent with the help of a man trying to find his family. The film is a coming-of-age film in which a young woman deals with her surroundings as well as wanting attention from her father who spends time hanging out with other people including his girlfriend than with his own children. Starring Nykiya Adams, Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, Jason Buda, Jasmine Jobson, Frankie Box, and James Nelson-Joyce. Bird is a majestic and gripping film by Andrea Arnold.
The film is about a 12-year-old girl who is dealing with puberty and her young father’s upcoming marriage to a girlfriend as she meets a mysterious man who is trying to find his family. It is a film that explores a young woman coming of age as she lives in North Kent in near-poverty though her father has found a toad that can produce slime that would unleash psychedelics. Still, this young girl in Bailey (Nykiya Adams) can do things for herself in her town while is also becoming aware that she is growing up. Andrea Arnold’s screenplay is straightforward in its narrative, yet it is more about this young woman who would meet this strange man named Bird (Franz Rogowski) who has arrived at North Kent by foot with a backpack and wearing a dress where he is trying to find his family. The script would play into Bailey dealing with her father Bug (Barry Keoghan) getting married to a woman whom he had begun a relationship with a few months ago as she has a daughter of her own. Even as she is going through her own growing pains as well as visiting her mother Peyton (Jasmine Jobson) and her young half-siblings who live in a home with her abusive boyfriend Skate (James Nelson-Joyce).
Arnold’s direction is entrancing in her approach to realism in the locations she shoots as well as flirting with elements of magical realism that plays a key role in the film’s third act. Shot on various locations in the Kent area including Gravesend, Dartford, Ashford, and Bean, Arnold’s direction does emphasize wide and medium shots to get a scope of the locations of where the characters are in. Notably in scenes with fields, canals, and areas involving nature as it plays into this sense of intrigue that Bailey encounters. Arnold also uses close-ups including extreme close-ups to play into Bailey’s own emotions in her reactions to situations and the people around her. Arnold would also use some unique tracking and long shots for scenes in which Bailey or Bug are riding a motorized scooter somewhere in North Kent. The direction also has Arnold keep things realistic where the locations are key to the story whether it is a building that is decayed or the suburbs where everything in the latter feels structured and clean.
Arnold’s flirtation with magical realism does not come into play until its third act when Bailey visits her half-siblings with Bug as she asks her older half-brother Hunter (Jason Buda) to find Skate and attack him since Hunter is part of a vigilante gang. It is where Bailey and Bird, along with Bailey’s young half-siblings, take go to the beach while they would meet a man (Jason Williamson) whom Bird believes is his father. It is a key moment where in a conventional film, there would be intense melodrama, but Arnold would restrain things as it play into two men who might be connected as they would talk and rationalize things. Arnold’s approach to magical realism would come to the film’s climax as well as the ending as it plays into Bailey’s own realization about herself and the new family she is going to be in with her father, Hunter, Bug’s girlfriend, and her daughter. The film’s ending is another brush with magical realism as it does play into this young woman coming of age as well as meeting this man who is trying to find himself. Overall, Arnold crafts an evocative and touching film where a young girl meets a mysterious man where they both go on a journey of self-discovery in North Kent.
Cinematographer Robbie Ryan does incredible work with the film’s cinematography with its naturalistic look for many of the daytime interior/exterior scenes as well as the usage of smartphones for scenes that Bailey uses to capture nature and things around her. Editor Joe Bini does excellent work with the editing as it is straightforward with a few jump-cuts to play into the energy in some of the tracking shots. Production designer Maxine Carlier, along with set decorator Jo Berglund plus art directors Lili Lea Abraham and Kate Stamp, does brilliant work with the look of the decayed apartment home that Bailey lives with Bug and Hunter as well as the home that Peyton lives in. Costume designer Alex Bovaird does nice work with the costumes as it is casual with some style in what Bug wears that include track suits and baseball caps that plays into his love for hip-hop.
Hair/makeup supervisor Giada Venturini and prosthetics designer Suzi Battersby does amazing work with the look of some prosthetics that would be a key factor in the film’s third act. Visual effects supervisor Robin Aristorenas does terrific work with the visual effects as it also plays into elements of the film’s third function as it relates to the idea of magical realism. The sound work of Nicolas Becker is superb in the way sound is captured on location as well as the way certain things sound from afar and up-close. The film’s music by Burial is wonderful for its low-key yet throbbing electronic score with elements of ambient pieces that play into the drama. Music supervisor Simon Astall provides a fun mixture of music ranging from hip-hop, indie, and Brit-pop in acts like Fontaines D.C., the Verve, Blur, Sleaford Mods, Rednex, and Coldplay.
Franz Rogowski is phenomenal as the titular character as a mysterious man who has backpacked through England as he is in search of his family where he seeks Bailey’s help while he also helps her with her own family issues. Even though there is an odd approach that Rogowski presents the character as he is first seen wearing a dress as he is also full of energy and warmth. Finally, there’s Nykiya Adams in a tremendous performance as Bailey, a 12-year-old girl who is fascinated by nature and her surroundings as she deals with growing pains as well as her own identity with her father becoming distracted with his upcoming wedding. Adams also displays a maturity as a young woman who is also concerned for her younger siblings as well as slowly accepting the way things are as it is a revelatory performance from the newcomer.
Bird is a sensational film by Andrea Arnold that features great performances from Franz Rogowski and Barry Keoghan as well as a major discovery in Nikiya Adams. Along with its ensemble cast, intoxicating visuals, a compelling story of identity and growing up, and a somber music soundtrack from Burial. It is a film that does not play into the conventions of a coming-of-age film in favor of studying a girl’s own journey with a mysterious man as it plays into the two finding themselves. In the end, Bird is a spectacular film by Andrea Arnold.
