REVIEW: Bird Starring Barry Keoghan, Will Stir Your Soul with New Cannes Debut

Bird, starring Nykiya Adams and Barry Keoghan, debuted at Cannes In Competition and chronicles a young girl from two very broken squats in northern Kent who must find her way to survive emotionally.

Bailey, a young Black and biracial 12-year-old girl, lives with her white, very young, tattooed, and unpredictable father, Bug (Barry Keoghan). Bug has declared without notice that he’s getting married and introduces a new toddler daughter-to-be, his bride, and a purple glittery leopard skin bridesmaid two-piece outfit in hand for Bailey to wear to his wedding in just a matter of days or weeks.

Bailey also lives with her brother Hunter (Jason Buda), who, along with his friends, scope out the neighborhood to beat up pedophiles and woman abusers in their discreet vigilante gang for good. Bailey wants to know all about their secrecy even though she is told to stay away, and in all of her fluctuating puberty and desire for something different from her chaotic home life, she follows Hunter and his friends.

Not realizing the violence that is about to ensue, she runs off after seeing them pulverize a degenerate who is causing harm in their community. That’s when Bailey runs into a man named Bird (Franz Rogowski), who she at first thinks is someone trying to harm her in a field surrounded by tall project homes in the distance, but she quickly learns he is harmless and is on a mission to find his parents in her neighborhood.

In a world where Bailey doesn’t have much at the most crucial time of her childhood, her homelife is hellish with a father who doesn’t quite understand her, especially when she shaves all of her hair off and he states now you are going to be an ugly bridesmaid at the wedding that she still has not agreed to. Most twelve-year-olds are having home-cooked dinners and getting help with their homework; Bailey is simply running physically and mentally, as well as dealing with some social anxiety.

Bailey takes Bird to her mother’s home, trying to juggle her memory as she lived next door to his parents years ago, only to find her mother and her younger siblings being abused by her mother’s new. boyfriend and their home appear to be used as a place junkies go to do drugs, including Bailey’s mom.

Along the journey, Bailey discovers many things about Bird, including his kindness and some of his weaknesses when he walks off when Bailey gets into a brawl with her mother’s junkie boyfriend, and she must protect her younger siblings. But that discovery only leads her to understand the fierce protection of Bailey later in the film, which includes the metaphysical and fantasy elements sprinkled in.

Bird has strong performances and a great story, and we are pretty sure you will shed a tear or two by its bittersweet end. Self-discovery, family, and protection are only a few of the themes that Bird so eloquently touches on.

Bird premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.