The Thing with Feathers review: A dark and weird take on grief
There have been a lot of films about grief on the festival circuit this year, but what sets The Thing with Feathers apart from the crowd is how weird and out-there it is.
Benedict Cumberbatch stars as a father of two whose wife unexpectedly dies. He has to deal with his own grief while trying to keep things as normal as possible for his young boys (Richard and Henry Boxall). But he’s hopeless and overwhelmed, realising just how much his wife did to make every day run smoothly. Dad throws himself into his next graphic novel, furiously drawing crows, and his grief manifests itself as a crow (voiced by David Thewlis) who comes into the house and refuses to leave.
Based on Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter, Dylan Southern‘s adaptation is an unusual domestic drama blended with fantasy horror. Crow is quite scary and menacing at first; he attacks Dad and gets into his head, tormenting and teasing him. Dad also starts doing bird sounds and movements, which I did not expect or completely understand. Like grief, Crow is difficult, ever-present and makes them feel terrible. But over time, it affects them less, and they learn to live with it.
Cumberbatch really throws himself into the role. He does very well at channelling the gamut of emotions running through Dad, such as anger, despair, helplessness, sadness and feeling like you’ve got the weight of the world on your shoulders. He keeps his performance grounded in reality despite the heightened circumstances and his quirky bird moments. The Boxall brothers do a solid job, and the chapter told from their perspective (there are four chapters overall) was my favourite. Their narration was lovely, and it was interesting to see the situation through their eyes.
The Thing with Feathers is a bit too unusual, scattershot and offbeat to truly work for me, but I appreciated Cumberbatch’s performance and the impressive creature design.
In cinemas now