Saoirse Ronan delivers an unforgettable performance that transforms ‘The Outrun’ into a gripping story of redemption
To paraphrase Tolstoy, films about addiction are the same; films about addicts are different.
Based on a 2016 memoir by Orkney, Scotland-born and raised British journalist Amy Liptrot, “The Outrun” opens like the 2014 animated film “The Song of the Sea” with a bit about how seals can transform into humans known as selkies and remain on land, although they never feel natural in their human skins. Combined with the haunting, natural-world visuals of award-winning cinematographer Yunus Roy Imer, who also shot director Nora Fingscheidt’s award-winning previous effort “System Crasher,” the opening of “The Outrun” establishes that its troubled protagonist, Rona (Saoirse Ronan), might be one of those magical creatures, who does not fit in our world and is more suited to Orkney’s rocky waters.
Rona, who is from the Orkney Islands, an archipelago off the northeastern coast of Scotland, has a master’s in biology. But her drug and alcohol problems have led her to the brink of disaster.
In the film’s fractured timelines, we meet Rona at different points in her effort to turn her life around with numbers on the screen indicating how long she has been sober and different settings, including the windswept, flatland sheep farm of her troubled father Andrew (Stephen Dillane, “Game of Thrones”). The numbers tell a tale of frequent setbacks. On the farm, a calm, capable Rona helps a ewe give birth to multiple lambs, one unresponsive and thrown into a bin. Rona’s mother (Saskia Reeves, “Slow Horses”) has become a devout Christian and lives alone, although Rona stays with her on and off. They fight when Rona falls off the wagon. We see Rona at several AA meetings. We hear about “waves caught in caves,” which may be responsible for the booming sounds Scots hear. We also learn about a giant mythic dragon whose teeth may have formed the Orkney Islands. If Rona’s hair is sky blue, and often is, it’s trouble.
From Billy Wilder’s Academy Award-winning “The Last Weekend” (1945) to Danny Boyle’s iconic “Trainspotting” (1996), we have been fascinated by (frequently autobiographical) tales of onscreen addiction. They are colorful, actor-friendly, there-but-for-the-grace-of-God, cautionary tales. Biologist Rona reminds us that humans share 79% of their DNA with seals. When she swims, she mimics the strange howl of the seal. She traces her issues to her father’s bipolar disorder. “The past follows us,” she observes. One of Rona’s most precious possessions is a small brass compass that her father gave her. She wears it on a chain around her neck. This, of course, is ironic since Rona has lost her way.
She gets into a bar fight. Wearing an animal skin coat on a bike, she tumbles into a canal and refuses to be “tamed.” Weeping, her boyfriend Daynin (Paapa Essiedu) breaks up with her. In one sequence at a farm, Rona learns to mow the grass in a circular motion to avoid accidentally killing the hard-to-spot, odd-sounding corncrakes nestling in the sod. “I can’t be happy sober,” she laments. Rona finds solace in yoga and meditation. She uses the expressions “Hi-yah” and “Aye.” She can be seen among her homeland’s mysterious, mute, standing stones, more dragon’s teeth. In one of many inlets, Rona experiences a baptism of ice instead of fire. She resolves to become a seaweed farmer, a fine job for a selkie. Of course, like all protagonists of films of this sort, Rona requires salvation. We yearn for her to redeem herself, although one may argue that our good wishes for these characters are a secret prayer for ourselves. Industry buzz suggests that Ronan could receive dual Academy Award nominations for her work this year in “The Outrun,” the sort of performance the Academy loves, and for the upcoming Steve McQueen effort “Blitz.” “The Outrun” might, in many ways, be an example of an addiction tale as “Oscar bait.” But Orkney is stunning, and Ronan sets it ablaze.
‘The Outrun’
Rating: R for language and brief sexuality.
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Saskia Reeves, Stephen Dillane, Paapa Essiedu.
Director: Nora Fingscheidt
Writers: Fingscheidt, Amy Liptrot, Daisy Lewis
Running time: 1 hour, 58 minutes
Where to Watch: AMC Boston Common, AMC South Bay, Landmark Kendall Square and other suburban theaters
Grade: B+
Boston Movie News 