Broken Bird - Dark Bridges Film Festival

Broken Bird / UK/ 2024/ Dir: Joanne Mitchell/ 96 Min

The dark psychological drama/thriller Broken Bird follows two concurrentbut contrasting stories:Sybil’s and Emma’s. Sybil (Rebecca Calder) is prim and proper, quiet and eccentric-herdemeanor is unsettling but sort of charming. She has an affinity for taxidermy and poetry andoften finds herself swept up in dramatic fantasies. Sybil finds work at the mortuary with Mr.Thomas as his assistant. Visiting the Roman funerary exhibit at the museum she meets Adam-and develops an obsessive fantasy for him. From there things start to take a morbid turn. Emma(Saccharissa Claxton) is a police investigator coping with the loss of her son. Struggling with alcohol addiction and haunted by constant flashbacks of her last moments with her son, Emma takes some time away from work only to dive deep into searching for answers. With incredible performances from Rebecca Calder and the rest of the cast, the film starts almost as a dark comedy but descends into delusion and madness. Broken Bird gracefully and unnervingly takes its time unfolding each character's story of grief and loneliness, and how that can shape a person for better or for worse.