Bird

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1:41

Bird

R

Released Nov 8, 2024

1h 59m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

85%

Tomatometer

123 Reviews

77%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

The long-awaited return to fiction filmmaking from Academy Award-winner Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish Tank), BIRD is a tender, striking and extraordinarily surprising coming-of-age fable about marginalized life in the fringes of contemporary society. 12-year-old Bailey (astounding newcomer Nykiya Adams) lives with her devoted but chaotic single dad Bug (Barry Keoghan, Saltburn) and wayward brother Hunter 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 (Franz Rogowski, Passages), a mysterious stranger on a journey of his own. A wondrous portrait of the transition from childhood to adolescence that remains grounded in her typically empathetic social realism, Arnold's latest strides to the wildly poetic rhythm of her own drum.

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Critics Consensus

Director Andrea Arnold strikes a coming-of-age chord through Nykiya Adams' moving performance, marrying fantasy and reality to the dizzying end.

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Kimberley Jones

Austin Chronicle

What struck me more was the film’s interpretation of Bailey’s coming of age not as something to be mourned or that comes on too soon. Instead, it’s an activation.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 4, 2024

Full Review

Mark Kermode

Kermode and Mayo's Take (YouTube)

I think the leap of faith doesn't entirely work but I kind of went with it, not least because it felt like a positive move.

Nov 23, 2024

Full Review

Thelma Adams

AARP Movies for Grownups

In this ecstatic coming-of-age drama set among the squatting classes in Northern Kent, England, Newcomer Nykiya Adams, in a refreshingly natural performance that carries the movie, plays Bailey.

Rated: 5/5

Nov 15, 2024

Full Review

Sarah Boslaugh

TheArtsStl

Arnold uses magical realism recalling the Canadian series Trickster to inject hope into a gritty lower-class British world where misery is more often the rule.

Rated: 8/10

Jan 16, 2025

Full Review

Jared Mobarak

Hey, Have You Seen ...?

Bird becomes a catalyst for maturity. A prism with which to look back at moments she once saw colored as tragic disappointment that now seem like examples of optimism for the future.

Rated: 8/10

Jan 10, 2025

Full Review

Mariona Borrull

Fotogramas

…By assembling a wild cast, [Andrea] Arnold manages…to realize the deeply humanistic desire to belong to a world, one that we also feel as our own. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 3/5

Jan 7, 2025

Full Review

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Elsie M

Another great Andrea Arnold film. This definitely needs time to process after watching it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/19/24

Full Review

James

This is a remarkable movie. It ranges from a level of realism that will make you a little uncomfortable to outright magic, and the acting is uniformly superb. No summary could do it justice, just see it.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/18/24

Full Review

Edith

Very boring. I walked out of the theater

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

11/17/24

Full Review

Shannon P

Gritty view of life, with some fantasy as well. Interesting film good job by actors

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/15/24

Full Review

Joyce H

All the performances were Grade A. Keoghan & Rogowski at their best.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/08/24

Full Review

Olive P

How brilliantly director Andrea Arnold tells this moving, troubling and ultimately inspiring coming-of-age movie has everything to do with her own upbringing. Not just filmed in her native Kent, finding beauty in the poverty of the London hinterlands, she also recalls her own upbringing, leaving School at 16 and with parents who were the same age and who split up young. So yes, it’s Biographical in part and really helped by some excellent acting and best of all lots of local people who just happened to be around on the Various council estates where it’s made. A special Mention must go to the soundtrack, which which is nothing short of inspirational.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/14/25

Full Review

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Andrea Arnold

Director

Barry Keoghan

Bug

Franz Rogowski

Bird

Nykiya Adams

Bailey

James Nelson-Joyce

Skate

Jasmine Jobson

Peyton

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Bird: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

The long-awaited return to fiction filmmaking from Academy Award-winner Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Fish Tank), BIRD is a tender, striking and extraordinarily surprising coming-of-age fable about marginalized life in the fringes of contemporary society. 12-year-old Bailey (astounding newcomer Nykiya Adams) lives with her devoted but chaotic single dad Bug (Barry Keoghan, Saltburn) and wayward brother Hunter 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 (Franz Rogowski, Passages), a mysterious stranger on a journey of his own. A wondrous portrait of the transition from childhood to adolescence that remains grounded in her typically empathetic social realism, Arnold's latest strides to the wildly poetic rhythm of her own drum.

Director: Andrea Arnold
Producer: Lee Groombridge, Juliette Howell, Tessa Ross
Screenwriter: Andrea Arnold
Distributor: MUBI
Production Co: arte France Cinéma, Access Entertainment, FirstGen Content, British Film Institute, Pinky Promise, BBC Films, House Productions, Ad Vitam
Rating: R (Drug Material|Some Violent Content|Language Throughout)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 8, 2024, Limited
Runtime: 1h 59m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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