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.
The film’s casting by Lucy Pardee is marvelous as it feature some notable small roles and appearances from Jason Williamson as a man who might know Bird, Joanne Matthews as that man’s girlfriend, Andrew Richard Bryant and Kirsty J. Curtis as the parents of Hunter’s girlfriend Moon, Frankie Box as Bug’s fiancée Kayleigh whom Bailey is not fond of at first until she comes to her about her first period, Jasmine Jobson as Bailey’s mother Peyton who is in abusive and tumultuous relationship with her current boyfriend, James Nelson-Joyce as Peyton’s abusive boyfriend Skate who hates Bailey and treats Peyton’s kids terribly, and Jason Buda in a superb performance as Bailey’s older half-brother Hunter who is part of a vigilante gang as he has become estranged from his girlfriend because of her parents. Barry Keoghan is brilliant as Bailey and Hunter’s young father Bug as a man who found a toad that he believe would make him money as he has also decided to get married as Keoghan brings a sensitivity to a man that does not mean to be neglectful. Still, he does care about his children as he does prove that he is willing to show his love towards them despite his own faults.
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.
Andrea Arnold Films: Red Road - Fish Tank - Wuthering Heights (2011 film) - American Honey - Cow (2021 film) - (Featherwood) - The Auteurs #31: Andrea Arnold
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