Bird (2024)

"A wonder of a film."

"A strange but affable fairy tale."

"The energy and heartfelt good humour offset the moments of cliche and implausibility."

"It’s an earnest film about truth and love. Cynics may be triggered."

"Achingly, heartbreakingly sincere."

"Bird is a feel-bad movie that turns into a feel-good movie. What it never feels like is a totally authentic movie."

"Rewarding in unexpected ways."

"(Arnold's) generosity toward her characters is also generosity toward us."

"Showcases Arnold’s gifts – the artful shepherding of apparent chaos – while allowing new and surprising elements."

"If ever a film puts its arm round a kid and says: ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got you’, that’s Bird and Bailey."

"Arnold’s total lack of contempt and her infectious compassion... encourages us past the film’s few faltering moments."

"A classic Andrea Arnold picture, complete with striking new talent and moving insight into life lived on the margins."

"Bird, with its in-your-face poverty and narrative extremes, never feels particularly real at all."

"Arnold establishes a rich world of complicated characters and beautiful, poetic moments."

"Though the more fantastic symbolic concepts... don’t take flight as they’re meant to, the film’s human portraits give it vibrancy."

"Barry Keoghan is charismatic and incredibly sad in the magical British drama."

"There is very little coherence in Bird, which feels tonally out of step with Arnold’s oeuvre."

"An endearing, ungainly modern-day fairytale."

"For all Keoghan’s star power and Rogowski’s diligence, Adams is the centre of the film."

"A young girl struggles to soar... (and so does the movie)."

"If there is such a thing as a perfect objective for a Keoghan character, Arnold may have found it."