Sybil works at an undertakers. It’s a lonely job, with few perks. So she takes solace where she can.
Broken Bird marks the feature directorial debut of Joanne Mitchell and stars Rebecca Calder (I May Destroy You, Hilma), James Fleet (Four Weddings and a Funeral), Jay Taylor (Wolf Manor, Evie) & Sacharissa Claxton (Avenue 5, Sandman). Broken Bird is set to open this year’s FrightFest and will be coming to UK cinemas 30th August.
As I’ve recently learned, trying to pursue the career path of working in a funeral home the life of a mortician can be a lonely one. While there are many benefits- such as quiet clients who won’t complain- the general public gives such employees a wide berth. However, as Rebecca Calder’s character Sybil portrays; a mortician might prefer solitude for ulterior motives.
Sybil’s character is one of someone who lives outside of a time period where she would be more comfortable granted those impressions of the past come from media portrayals of the early 1900s century such as taxidermy as a hobby, flapper girls, theatrical poetry readings that echo Emily Dickenson, and steamy whirlwind romances with complete strangers. As the modern day and reality begins to seep into these kintsugi cracks of her persona the gold begins to flake away.
Despite this, I found myself very sympathetic towards her character. She’s a lonely and damaged person hoping for someone to heal her but without the tools to build healthy and functional relationships. She’s very successful careerwise but as she begins to break, she can only solve her problems by retreating to a fantasy world she made for herself. Calder’s performance was absolutely perfect for the role and gave me so much to dissect about the character.
I felt the secondary storyline however following Jessica Yemi as Helen was mid; I have a lot of sympathy for alcoholics particularly those that self-medicate through loss, but I found her plotline to be predictable and as the story progresses it seems the intention was to make her less and less sympathetic as opposed to Sybil’s. Fewer scenes developing her as a character would have made practically no difference to the movie itself and towards the climactic end, she was all but useless. That said Yemi’s performance was gut-wrenching and seemed to balance the cold misfortune of reality by being forced to relive harsh memories while Calder’s showed the flowery and romantic life of a created fantasy.
The pacing for the movie is great, it keeps you interested while having an even tempo until the gripping final 30 minutes of the movie. The minor plotlines are interesting enough to keep you watching as they supplement the main story and pull an incredible amount of weight developing the minor characters. Overall I would say this is a movie worth watching.
