Bird

Plot

Bailey is a twelve-year-old girl who lives in a run-down building with her father, Bug, and half brother, Hunter. One day, Bug announces his engagement to Kayleigh, a woman he has known for three months with their wedding on the following Saturday. Bailey, in shock and frustration, claims she will not attend and storms off.

Later that day, Hunter tells Bailey he is in a vigilante group with his friends. Intrigued, Bailey follows them and witnesses the group of boys storm into a house and threaten a man with a box cutter. Police are quickly called and Bailey escapes into an empty field where she falls asleep for the night.

The next morning, she is greeted by a mysterious man who calls himself Bird. She follows him to an apartment complex where he searches for a woman who lived there sometime ago, but has little luck finding her. Bailey leaves after this, but notices Bird on the roof of the building before Bug arrives to take her home and grounds her for being out all night.

Bailey learns that Bird was looking for his mother who lived in the apartment complex, and that long ago she disappeared when he was a child. Warming to Bird, Bailey suggests her mother, Peyton, could help Bird as she lived in the complex years ago.

At Peyton's house, Bailey and Bird inquire about the residents, but are interrupted by the attitude of her live-in boyfriend, Skate. An argument ensues between Bailey and Skate, leading Bailey to film him, with Skate threatening to kill Peyton if Bailey shows the footage to the authorities. Despite this, Peyton is able to remember Bird's father's name. Bailey sends the video to Hunter, who promises Bailey he and his group will attack Skate in order to rescue her mother along with her half-siblings.

Later, Hunter requests Bailey's assistance in delivering a note to his girlfriend Moon asking that the two run away to Scotland, due to her family's disapproval of her recently discovered pregnancy. On the way, a crow follows Bailey and helps her slip the note past Moon's parents.

The next day as Hunter and his friends plan their attack, Bailey takes her half-siblings out for the day to avoid the incident. Bird reappears to help Bailey and the kids to the beach where he attempts to track down his father. When they find his apartment, the man living there denies ever having a son to Bird and Bailey. Later, the man recants his denial and admits to Bird that he was with Bird's mother and they did have a boy, but left shortly after, stating "she was crazy". Bailey consoles a tearful Bird as the group heads back home.

Cast

Nykiya Adams as Bailey

Barry Keoghan as Bug, Bailey's father

Franz Rogowski as Bird

Jason Buda as Hunter, Bailey's half-brother

Jasmine Jobson as Peyton, Bailey's mother

Frankie Box as Kayleigh, Bug's fiancée

James Nelson-Joyce as Skate, Peyton's boyfriend

Angel Lovegrove as Penna

Arianna Lovegrove as Kisha

Michael Lovegrove as Louis

Joanne Matthews as Debs

Sarah Beth Harber as Dionne's Mum

Jason Williamson as Fred

Rhys Yates as Beck

Production

Casting

Keoghan reportedly came aboard the project in May 2023 after leaving the cast of Ridley Scott epic Gladiator II. That same month Franz Rogowski was revealed to be in talks to join the cast.

Filming

Principal photography took place in the south of England with filming locations including Gravesend, Northfleet, Ashford and Bean, Kent in June 2023. In July 2023 filming took place on the Isle of Sheppey. Robbie Ryan served as the cinematographer.

Letters were also dropped to residents of Kent's letter boxes by the film's location manager Mark Lambert.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was scored by British electronic artist Burial. It also featured tracks by Fontaines D.C., Sleaford Mods and Coldplay.

Release

Bird was presented at the European Film Market as part of the Berlin International Film Festival, with Cornerstone Films handling sales. The film was selected in the main competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered on 16 May 2024. Prior to, Mubi acquired UK and Irish distribution rights to the film from Cornerstone, then subsequently purchasing the distribution rights for North America and Turkey. The film will also play at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024. It was released in theaters by Mubi in the United Kingdom and the United States on November 8, 2024, with a streaming release in Turkey on a later date.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 131 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Director Andrea Arnold strikes a coming-of-age chord through Nykiya Adams' moving performance, marrying fantasy and reality to the dizzying end." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 36 critic reviews indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Accolades

The film received seven nominations at the British Independent Film Awards in November 2024. Robbie Ryan was nominated for Best Cinematography at the Irish Film and Television Awards in January 2025.