Twelve-year-old Bailey (played by charismatic newcomer Nykiya Adams) lives with her father Bug (a devoted but emotionally chaotic Barry Keoghan) in a graffiti-strewn tenement. When Bug informs her that he’ll be marrying his new girlfriend soon, Bailey is furious and hurt, for what will become of her? Her mother lives with a violent, cruel man, and while Bug sports a ferocious love for his daughter, he can be oblivious to the needs of a fledgling teenage girl.

As she often does, Bailey retreats to the open fields on the outskirts of her hometown to seek comfort. It is here she is most herself, with an uncanny ability to communicate with animals and experience nature in a profound way. It is on one of these walks that Bailey has a mysterious, yet deeply meaningful, encounter that helps her when she must force a confrontation with her mother’s vicious partner.

This latest film from renowned English filmmaker Andrea Arnold (AMERICAN HONEY, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, FISH TANK—all IFFBoston alumni) is a compelling, ultimately joyous story that tackles themes of identity, sexism, loneliness, and class struggle. The director’s empathy and skill at showing us beauty despite dire circumstances elevates BIRD beyond its roots. Add to that a crystalline thread of magic realism and the result is an ode to the wondrous transition from childhood to adolescence.

—Jane Schoettle, Toronto International Film Festival guide