THE OUTRUN (2024)
MPAA: R.
Release Date: 10/04/24 [Cinemas]
Genre: Drama.
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics.
"After living life on the edge in London, Rona 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."
OUR MOVIE REVIEW:
The Outrun is a beautifully made, topsy-turvy study of alcohol addiction, mental illness, recovery and the healing impact of nature - and it is also so much more.
Based on the 2020 memoir (book) by Amy Liptrot and directed by Nora Fingscheidt, The Outrun is as perfect a vehicle for its remarkable lead actress, Saoirse Ronan, as I can imagine. Ronan is transcendent as Rona, a young woman struggling with sobriety, family issues, loneliness and finding her way in the world without alcohol.
The story is not told in a linear fashion, but rather jumps backward and forward through time in a jumbled and chaotic way, perhaps meant to represent the life and experiences of an active addict who spent ten years in London’s club scene trying to numb the pain of a childhood spent with a mentally ill father and distant, religious mother.
I found the time jumps disorienting at first, but soon settled on watching Rona’s hair color for clues: its hue changes from all blonde to all blue to blonde with blue tips and finally to red across the course of her recovery journey. At first, I clung to her hair color thinking it could help orient me in the story, but I must admit that I was ultimately so swept up in Ronan’s powerful performance that I stopped caring about her hair color or trying to figure out when things were happening in the story.
The scenic, cold and lonely Scottish coast - the place where Rona returns to heal and recover - is as much a character in The Outrun as it is its setting. Ronan’s voiceover, paired with scenes of the ocean, seals swimming underwater or pastoral farmlands, helps make this film hauntingly beautiful.
Her voiceover doesn’t always serve to move the story along, but instead adds color and texture by sharing local mythology, recounting the history of the islands and occasionally offering insight into the emotions and questions of her character.
And what a character she is. Rona is tender, luminous, fragile and achingly lonely one minute, veering into drunk and disorderly - and quite violent - the next. Becoming Rona is truly the most superb performance in Saoirse Ronan’s already stellar career.
This is a story of hardship and hope. Just as the Scottish isles are beaten by wind and waves, so can our lives be difficult and full of challenges at times. The strongest among us find our way, seeking connection where we can and building a life of meaning one beach walk at a time.
The Outrun is a must watch for anyone whose life has been touched by alcoholism, mental illness or loneliness - and that’s probably everyone. It’s a truly gorgeous film.