Rent The Outrun (2024)

Overlong but Watchable Adaption of an Alcoholic Misery Memoir - The Outrun review by PV

I always have the same issue with misery memoirs - how much is true and how much is deliberately exaggerated? There are other addiction memoirs and films, from TRAINSPOTTING to THE LOST WEEKEND, to LEAVING LAS VEGAS. All fiction. Then another adaptation from a book, A MILLION LITTLE PIECES by James Frey, originally sold as a memoir later marketed as a semi-fictional novel following Frey's admission that many parts of the book were fabricated.

Anyway, assessing this as a film in its own right, I'd say it is very watchable, with interesting settings, landscapes and I liked the way it showed the main character as badly behaved and not just a victim of others, and even showed her false accusations that others were trying to control her when they were not. It touches on inherited mental illness too with the main character's father.

I suppose it is the #metoo trend now to only ever focus on female stories, as there has ben a deluge recently and it seems all state-funded films must be directed by women and feature female stories, or BAME ones. Maybe white boys need a special fund so we can have films telling their stories now? How about it BFI, BBC, FilmFour, National Lottery.

Anyway, I loved the landscape and Nature here, and the conrcrake humour. Addictionis always messy and tricky to live and experience and to portray in fiction - novels, films, whatever. This is one of my favourite addiction films tbh. THE LOST WEEKEND is the classic movie, of course.

DO watch the 5 short films in the EXTRAS section - well worth a watch. Interesting from the German female director about the colour palettes used and how it swaps as the film progresses, from colourful London and monochrome faded outdoors, to the opposite when we reach the later scenes in beautiful Orkney, the sea, the sky, the fields and wildlife - GLORIOUS! And the wind...

4 stars.

Not even Ronan can save this film from just being an exercise in naval gazing boringness - The Outrun review by Timmy B

After seeing multiple films in which Saoirse Ronan was the best thing in them, this film to me was going to be a home run: a look at addiction set in & around one of the most beautiful parts of the UK, with one of our best actresses delivering a masterclass in trauma & recovery. However, as with many other times where you feel that something is a certainty, the finished product is very different.

We are introduced to Rona as she is dancing in a nightclub & very quickly see she has a serious problem with alcohol, ending the night minesweeping leftover drinks from the bar before being thrown out by security. She then returns home to her family farm in the Orkney Islands to help with the lambing season. Her mother, a devout Christian woman who believes that she can cure her daughter with prayer, suffocates her with attention & subtle attempts at controlling, whilst her father is more laid back. We follow her as she attempts to get her life back on track as well as dealing with her demons.

This film is absolutely terrible. It is so boring & badly made, it almost makes me wonder how it was green-lit. In the 30 or so minutes I could watch it, we just see a lot of random events, interspersed with old wives tales & legends of the Orkney Islands. The narrative and direction is all over the place, the timeline jumping about without giving any thought to the fact that not only does this make the film unwatchable, but also means you never really know what is happening. Then after a while, I found myself not caring.

After half an hour, I switched it off. I simply wasn't interested in spending any more time trying to work out what was happening, why I should care & if the film was going to get better.

Compelling Addiction Drama - The Outrun review by GI

Saoirse Ronan is absolutely mesmerising with a powerful, even fierce performance as an alcoholic struggling with recovery amidst a dysfunctional family and an almost overwhelming desire to return to the happiness that she found in drinking. The film's title refers to the name given to any area of coastal farmland in the Orkney Isles that is barren due to the extreme weather conditions. It is a metaphorical reference to the violent and destructive themes that run through the film as well as the possibly pain and invigoration that healing brings too. Either way this is a compelling study of addiction with Ronan really delivering especially with her ability to reveal the hedonistic drunkeness contrasted with the blankness she feels as she realises she has to part ways with a lifestyle that gives her joy. She plays Rona, a post graduate student living in London with her caring boyfriend (Papa Essiedu), but her increased drinking results in violent episodes and she loses him and friends and is forced to return to her home on the Orkneys in order to try and deal with her alcoholism. Her parents are living apart but still run a sheep farm on the islands, her father (Stephen Dillane) being a bi-polar drinker prone to episodes of emotional withdrawal from everything around him and her mother (Saskia Reeves) has turned to christianity. Getting a small job with the RSPB Rona has to try and survive her desire to drink and find the joy again that it brought to her by being isolated and involved in the wild and lonely island wilderness. This is a sobering addiction drama, disturbing, frightening even and utterly superb.

too depressing to enjoy - The Outrun review by JG

The subject matter, the Orkney gloom of constant grey skies, make this film too gloomy to be entertaining, in my 'umble view. Yes, good performance from SR but that's not enough to lift this film out of its gloomy rut and provide an entertaining couple of hours.