The things we don’t understand or that we know people will not understand we fear, we hide them and we try to forget. Somethings however are such a fundamental part of who we are that to cease them means to cease to exist, somethings can’t be stopped or changed. And that is the reality we face in Yardbird. The notion of suppressed supernatural abilities isn’t unique, it’s been played out in comics, movies and novels countless times and we keep returning to it because despite its fanciful nature at the base of it is a premise that we all understand and empathize with. All, every single one of them, is about being different and we are all afraid to some degree of being different enough that we are no longer accepted; because even a black sheep has to go home sometime.
Ruby is a girl living in a junkyard, hence the name Yardbird, with her father somewhere in Australia. Because of her powers she is not socialized in an effort to keep them secret but also to maintain control. She has an affinity for animals and is constantly saving them, perhaps reflecting a yearning for company and real friends. It is this urge to experience something new, connect, that has her sneak away at the back of her father’s truck during a shopping run. And it is during this trip she encounters 3 boys torturing a cat, which she saves but not cleanly enough to avoid suspicion. From here the story spins away from a tale of loneliness and difference to one of vindictiveness, revenge and the battle for restraint and control and in the end, freedom.
This was my first movie by Michael Spiccia who apparently is a well know commercial director and I found his visual style very immersive and able to give the impression that it was almost without filter; an achievement that suits the harsh dusty Australian landscape. His creative partner Julius Avery who wrote the script released a feature film starring Ewan MacGregor earlier last year to good reviews. As such, both Spiccia and Avery are worth keep track of.
This Way South, This Way Home 