I am so bored with this genre akin to James Joyce’s Ulysses. No real plot, just a series of meandering and overlong scenes in which the director includes anything they happen across, presumably because there is no budget. The acting from the main protagonist is terrible, the sound can only have been recorded on a Fisher Price tape machine and ironically there is a real lack of realism. Unfortunately I didn’t make it all the way through, I put on the new Bob Dylan film, ironically following a listless character forming a life for themselves, but to far greater effect.
This is a quirky coming of age social drama set in a rundown housing estate in Kent, England where 12 year old Bailey is a young girl living with her dairy but affectionate father Bug (Barry Keoghan). They live in a squat which attracts an assortment of weirdos and criminals including Bailey's half brother who runs a violent gang on the estate. Bailey is a child who is readily suspicious of strangers instantly filming anyone who gets too near to her but she's drawn to nature and in particular the freedom she sees in birds. Her mother (Jasmine Jobson) lives nearby with an assortment of Baileys young siblings but she's controlled by a nasty bullying boyfriend. Bailey meets an enigmatic young man who calls himself Bird (Franz Rogowski) who seems to watch over her and they bond as friends. He's an odd chap, poetic and an outsider who dresses peculiarly and seems to be seeking his parents who used to live in the area. Bailey agrees to help him. There's a transitional point in the film that is somewhat predictable and it's one you'll either accept as the emblem of Bailey's dreams and emotions or it'll be a step too far. It certainly adds to the film's overall absurd vision of life especially for a young girl in modern Britain. It's a strangely compelling film and has superb performances throughout bolstered by the boisterousness of Keoghan as the Dad who imports toads from some far off land for the hallucinogenic affects of their sweat! An interesting film, if a little strange.