Review

The Outrun, based on the memoir of the same name by Amy Liptrot, takes a motion picture staple - one of addiction and recovery - and re-invents it into something fresh and engaging. Presenting the narrative in a fragmentary, non-linear fashion, the production provides the viewer with a cross-chronological collage of moments from the lead character's life. This allows bursts of optimism to interweave with the tragedy that accompanies the descent of an otherwise decent person into the depths of alcoholism. The beauty of the wild setting in which much of the story transpires combined with a stunning performance from Saoirse Ronan make this one of the year's not-to-be-missed dramas.

The Outrun generally transpires across three segments of time. The film's "contemporary" material occurs during the recovery period of Rona (Saoirse Ronan), who has returned home to the Orkney Islands in Scotland. This gives her a place of semi-isolation in which to keep her demons at bay, although her interactions with her parents - evangelical Christian Annie (Saskia Reeves) and bipolar Andrew (Stephen Dillane) - are not exactly stress-free. As she navigates her path forward, following the "one day at a time" philosophy of AA, the movie steps back to the period she spent in England with her boyfriend Daynin (Paapa Essiedu), when she started drinking too much before slipping over the edge into full addiction, and her time in a tough-love rehab. There are also a few glimpses of her fractious and chaotic childhood.

The Outrun is unsparing in its presentation of Rona and her addiction. It doesn't soft-peddle her actions and the impact they have on her loved ones. It shows the long-term personal consequences she suffers as a result of the things she has done. But there are also instances of hope and comfort as she discovers that, although she will always be "recovering" and the process will never be "easy," it will become "less hard" and she can live a full and fulfilled life. There's a wild beauty to the island of Papa Westray (population: 60), where she spends a winter while working for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

I'll admit that there are times when the jumping back-and-forth through time with little in the way of conventional transitions can become disorienting. When Rona teeters on the brink of a relapse, I wasn't sure if it was at the end of her current timeline or somewhere a little earlier. For the most part, however, it's not difficult to decode the time stamp of each scene. For one thing, the locations are different. And, for another, Rona's hair color varies. It can be blonde, blue, or a coppery-orange.

The Outrun's greatness comes not so much from the narrative, which (despite the unconventional nature of the presentation) is unremarkable, but from the performance of Ronan, which may represent the best work she has done in a rich and varied career. She is, simply put, phenomenal. This could have been assembled with considerably less skill than the high aptitude shown by director Nora Fingscheidt and it still would have been compulsively viewable. Ronan inhabits Rona with such absolute conviction that we never get the sense that she is acting. We are pulled into her world. We feel her pain. We endure her spiral. And we are with her on the cold, lonely Orkney Islands where she finds a slice of peace. The "you are there" quality results from Ronan's acting, the on-location camerawork, and the spare, incisive screenplay.

Passages from Amy Liptrot's book make it into the movie via a voiceover narrative provided by Ronan. Unlike many "talking narrators," when she speaks, she has something interesting to say. She doesn't merely regurgitate plot points for inattentive viewers. She ponders the philosophy of addiction and recovery among other things. Her thoughts are sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes poetic, and never intrusive. They represent the perfect accompaniment to the visuals - the lyrics to Rona's song.

The Outrun avoids pretentiousness and the emotional stakes are so high that it doesn't threaten to become boring. The high-level synopsis ("a young woman recovers from alcohol addiction by returning home to work on a farm on an isolated island in Scotland") doesn't sound like a rousing way to spend a couple of hours. But the movie is so good on so many levels that it becomes a journey worth taking. In today's climate, films like this often struggle to find an audience. I can't say it "needs" to be seen on a big screen (although some of the visuals will pop more in a theater than on a 65" TV). The characters and circumstances will be equally rich and vital regardless of the setting; this is well worth seeking out whenever (and wherever) it becomes available.

© 2024 James Berardinelli

Synopsis

After living life on the edge in London, Rona attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. She returns to the wild beauty of Scotland’s Orkney Islands — where she grew up — hoping to heal. Adapted from the bestselling memoir by Amy Liptrot.

Playing At

• Regal Hollywood - Nashville
  719 Thompson Lane, Nashville, TN