Barry Keoghan dropped out of Gladiator II (2024) to star in this movie instead
Scenario
Barry Keoghan dropped out of Gladiator II (2024) to star in this movie instead.. I'm a fan of Arnold, although for me, her great film is Fish Tank, not so much American Honey.
The short Wasp is also fantastic
So I had high expectations for Bird, especially with Barry Keoghan in it, but I saw it at a festival yesterday and I'm deeply disappointed. The young actress doesn't pull it off at all, and as usual, Franz Rogowski as well-honestly, I don't know why they keep casting him here and there.
The audience burst out laughing when the big bird carried off the abuser
The film doesn't focus on a particular story but rather on the issue of teenage pregnancy in marginalized communities, and it just falls apart into the various aspects it tries to explore. The magical element, which is supposed to symbolize the human spirit rising above grim reality, is poorly connected to the events, its message is simplistic, and the visuals are ridiculous.
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But the film's biggest sin is that it has nothing to do with reality, and when the final song asked, "Is it too real for you?", I shouted in the theater, "No!" It tries to pass as authentic, even exaggerating the material poverty, but at the same time, it totally sugarcoats the characters and their relationships. It's a typical propaganda technique, pretending to show mercy towards the victims but actually rejecting them even further and refusing to empathize with them unless they behave "properly." For comparison, see Gummo, where even the youngest children are utterly corrupted, and that's the real tragedy that hits you hard..