“Bird” captures difficulties and fantasy in lives in England's county Kent

British writer/director Andrea Arnold has focused her best films on impoverished, hard-scrabble lives in England's county Kent where she grew up. In her latest film "Bird," set in Gravesend, Northeastern Kent, she leavens the struggles of twelve-year-old Bailey with a welcome infusion of fanciful, magical realism in the figure of title character Bird.

He arrives pirouetting gracefully as the multiracial Bailey awakens in a field of horses. Bailey fled to the pasture after witnessing a violent confrontation involving her half-brother Hunter and his self-named vigilantes, that occurring after a conflict with her heavily, insect-themed all body tattooed young father Bug who unceremoniously announced his imminent marriage the coming Saturday to his girlfriend of three months, Kayleigh. Subsequently, Bailey tries to protect her three younger stepsisters and her dissolute mother Peyton from her physically abusive boyfriend Skate. Hunter adds to Bailey's woes when he petitions her to intervene with his girlfriend Moon over her unexpected pregnancy. In other words, Bailey faces multiple, daily crises with her family.

Negotiating and contesting dysfunctional relationships and the struggle for dignified identity govern "Bird," the film and the character. Bird himself searches for his absentee mother and his indifferent father. Newcomer Nykiya Adams as Bailey, Barry Keoghan as Bug, and Franz Rogowski as Bird propel every scene with exceptional energy. Shots of nature—horses, bees, butterflies, dogs, ravens, and toads—suggest metaphorical equivalents of beauty, entrapment, and momentary, welcome diversions. Throughout the film, as the title indicates, various birds populate recurring scenes, notably seagulls and crows. The inclusion of animals reveals Bailey's responsiveness to the alluring world she inhabits, despite her cramped nook in her father's constrained quarters.

Contributing a peculiar addition to the focus on animals, one special, Colorado- sourced drug toad figures in Bug's scheme to make fast money from its hallucinogenic slime. The amusing problem is finding the right music to induce the toad's output. To that end, an inspired song selection adds a definitive soundtrack. Cinematographer Robbie Ryan provides unobtrusive, effective compositions, revealing important details. Several dynamic electric scooter scenes are exhilarating though, at other times, shaky handheld camerawork is off-putting.

In an interview for Telluride, where I first saw "Bird," Arnold said, "All the people I've put in my films have been those I'm rooting for." She added, "I've always had this idea that if you look at anyone long enough, you'll find the humanity in them, and you'll have empathy for whoever they are." This is certainly the case for "Bird." It screens at Webster University’s Winifred Moore auditorium Friday, December 6, through Sunday, December 8, at 7:00 each of those evenings. For more information, you may visit the film series website at: Webster.edu/filmseries.