TORONTO — Lena Dunham has discovered a brand new calling that no one might have predicted: directing youngsters’ films.
The controversial writer-director whose fashionable HBO sequence “Ladies” was infamously nudity-and-sex-filled has segued to the coming-of-age style together with her charming comedy “Catherine Known as Birdy,” which had its world premiere on the Toronto Worldwide Movie Competition.
CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY
Working time: 108 minutes. Rated PG-13 (some suggestive materials and thematic components). In theaters Sept. 23. On Prime Video Oct. 7.
Earlier than you reflexively defend your youngsters’s eyes, know that Dunham’s newest effort is a fairly applicable mashup of “Shrek” and “Courageous” with the “deliver out your lifeless!” aesthetic of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”
Whereas the story, which she has tailored from the novel by Karen Cushman, is sort of mature in spots, the PG-13 film has a worthwhile “be your self” message that anyone can get behind. It’s well-made, and endlessly likable.
Girl Catherine (Bella Ramsey), who goes by Birdy, is a 14-year-old woman in 1290 England — and we first meet her throughout a slo-mo mud struggle. Regardless of her rough-’em-up demeanor, she’s the proper age for her dad Sir Rollo (Andrew Scott) to marry her off to a wealthy man to assist repay the money owed he’s incurred from squandering cash on requirements resembling a wild tiger.
It’ll be a problem, although. Dad shouts, “She’s disgusting! She’s one step away from a leper!”
And Birdy’s not scorching on holy matrimony both. She’s decided to scare off each suitor that comes her approach — all of the whereas scheming together with her pals Perkin (Michael Woolfitt) and Aelis (Isis Hainsworth) and misguidedly crushing on her good-looking Uncle George (Joe Alwyn, who’s been too chill on-screen these days. I miss “The Favorite” Alwyn).
There are darker, true-to-life components at play past the farce. Birdy’s mom (Billie Piper), for example, has struggled to have extra youngsters since Birdy was born and has suffered a number of miscarriages. Additionally, one of many younger teen’s male admirers is a creepy outdated dude she calls “Shaggy Beard.” Some mother and father would possibly wince at that. However, come on, it’s the Center Ages. Whaddya need? “The Wiggles”?
Dunham has made a extremely engaging and cohesive movie, merging her fashionable, punky sensibilities with the dirt-and-stone drear of the time interval. The music seamlessly hops between Gregorian chants by way of “Glee” and pop tunes. The parent-child dynamics and talking type in Thirteenth-century England have been most likely not so 2022, however there's an emotional resonance to Dunham’s tackle the fabric. To not point out ample hilarity.
The solid is full of gifted comedians. Ramsey turned a breakout star on “Sport of Thrones” when she performed that tiny spitfire Lyanna Mormont. As Birdy, she’s an irrepressible ball of insurgent power who’s immediately endearing and brimming with wit. And Scott, a superb stage actor finest often called the Sizzling Priest on “Fleabag,” is at his neurotic, humorous finest.
I’m glad to see Dunham, who appeared to be headed for the exit after the so-so HBO present “Tenting” and the off-putting mess “Sharp Stick” earlier this yr, again in good kind. How beautiful it could be if this Center Ages film, which hits Prime Video Oct. 7, begins her renaissance.
Post a Comment