Review: The Outrun

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Official synopsis: After living life on the edge in London, Rona (Saoirse Ronan) attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. Hoping to heal, she returns to the wild beauty of Scotland's Orkney Islands where she grew up.

Saoirse Ronan is one of my favorite working actresses and while she's played a variety of roles, she's never quite played the absolute mess Rona is. She's a hardcore alcoholic. She has good intentions, but ruins all the relationships around her. Going back to Orkney is a sobering experience for her in more ways than one.

This film is adapted from Amy Liptrot's novel of the same name, and you can feel her love for Orkney all over this film. I was unfamiliar with the book before watching this, but I knew instantly that someone from Orkney had to be involved with making this film. It was just viewed so fondly.

Saoirse of course is phenomenal. When isn't she? There's not a single second that she isn't on our screen. She carries this movie through the cold and dreary sets. (end even delivers a baby lamb FOR REAL at one point) The supporting cast is made up of great, subtle performances. Stephen Dillane, as her bipolar father. Saskia Reeves as her god fearing mother and Paapa Essideu as her boyfriend who tries so hard to make it work. This is my second feature I've seen of director Nora Fingscheidt's after the wonderful System Crasher, and I can't wait to see what she does next. 

If there is any flaw to The Outrun, it's the editing. It jumps around in the timeline and uses Rona's hair color as the guide for us to figure out the order of things, but that's not always clear. At least it wasn't for me. This is a quiet film and may be hard to watch if you've dealt with an alcoholic family member, but it's absolutely worth seeing.

Grade: B+

Comments

  1. SJHoneywellOctober 16, 2024 at 10:13 AM

    The fact that we live in a world where Saoirse Ronan and Glenn Close have 0 Oscars and both Hillary Swank and Emma Stone each have 2 demonstrates that we are living in the stupidest timeline.

    (I have nothing against Emma Stone, but she's no Saoirse Ronan...or Glenn Close.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 16, 2024 at 4:35 PM

      Saoirse not having an Oscar is wild. I'm glad she's got multiple noms under her belt but she should have a win. I hope she's nominated for this.

      Delete
  2. thevoid99October 16, 2024 at 1:42 PM

    I do want to see this as I love Saoirse. She always deliver and never does anything easy. I still would like to see her do a comedy. It's a shame she wasn't available to do a cameo for Barbie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 16, 2024 at 4:34 PM

      I know! I think she's be great in a comedy. There's not much I can't picture her doing.

      Delete

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