Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, American Honey) brings her trademark visual energy and uncanny ability to elicit stunning performances from young actors to this typically bustling coming-of-age story that sees the director introduce a touch of magic realism to her gritty aesthetic. Twelve-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) lives in a chaotic apartment in Kent with older brother Hunter, and impetuous dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan), who is about to marry his pregnant girlfriend. Bailey has learned to look after herself and it is while alone one day in a meadow near a motorway that she meets Bird (Franz Rogowski), an enigmatic, charming drifter in search of his family home. A tentative friendship develops as the initially suspicious Bailey warms to Bird’s eccentricity and willingness to help with her home environment.

Notes by David O’Mahony