Bird

The long-awaited return to fiction storytelling from Academy Award-winner Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish Tank), Bird is a tender, striking and extraordinarily surprising coming-of-age fable about marginalised life in the fringes of contemporary society. Featuring remarkable performances from Barry Keoghan (Saltburn), Franz Rogowski (Passages), and astounding newcomer Nykiya Adams as the latest in the filmmaker's canon of indelible heroines. 12-year-old Bailey (Adams) lives with her devoted but chaotic single dad Bug (Keoghan) and wayward brother Hunter (Jason Buda) in a squat in Gravesend, north Kent. Approaching puberty and seeking attention and adventure, Bailey's fractured home life is transformed when she encounters Bird (Rogowski), a mysterious stranger on a journey of his own. Having premiered to acclaim in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, this is a wondrous portrait of the transition from childhood to adolescence that remains grounded in Arnold's typically empathetic social realism. Here she sensuously entwines her fascination with characters vying for freedom from oppressive environments with the beauty of life and nature - all the while pushing into intriguing new directions. Both captivating and ultimately joyous, Bird strides to the wildly poetic rhythm of the director's own drum.