Movie Review: The Outrun

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A powerful drama. 

There have been many movies over the years about alcoholism, but this film really stands out as something special. One of the main reasons this movie works so well is because at its heart this is a complex character study. Our main character here is someone who we can easily relate to and feel deeply for. In many ways she is just a regular person trying to simply survive. There is no big dream she is working towards. Like many of us, simply making it from day to day becomes her major goal. Sometimes when we are going through hard times, this is all we can do. For a woman whose entire life was ruined by her alcohol addiction, who is trying her best to quit, simply making it from day to day is great accomplishment. This movie puts us directly in her shoes, having us experience every high and every low with her. Some of the most powerful moments here are the little ones where it becomes obvious just how much she misses drinking. When she admits to her A.A. group that she just really misses the way drinking makes her feel and when she ponders whether she can truly be happy sober, our hearts ache for her. This gives even those of us who never had a drink in our lives understand just why it has such a grip on her. The movie also helps us understand the isolation she feels at times, especially with the scenes with her very religious mother (it is never directly said but obvious that our main character is an atheist) and her mental ill father. This is even felt in little scenes like an early one where she flirts with a guy her age. It is obvious that she is not looking for either sex or romance but rather simply someone to make her feel not so alone (something many of us have experienced). Some moments are so heartbreaking that they become truly hard to watch. Yet beneath all the pain and struggle, there is a real sense of hope underneath. This may not be a feel-good movie, but it is not a film that leaves us in despair either.

 The storytelling in this film also makes it much more powerful. The story here is not told in a liner fashion. Instead, we start the movie watching our main character trying to overcome her alcoholism. Throughout the movie we cut back in forth between her trying to overcome her alcoholism and the events that led her to this point. This non-linear storytelling not only makes this film feel unique among more conventional films about the subject, but it also makes this a much more emotional ride. Cutting back and forth between the before and the after gives us a greater understanding of who this character is because of the obvious contrasts that make this feel like two different characters. This film also knows how to take its time. This is incredibly important because spending the smaller moments with our main character makes us feel like we know her personally. This is also a visually beautiful movie and that makes the smaller and quieter scenes all the more powerful. The movie also benefits from a truly wonderful performance by Saoirse Ronan, whose deeply human performance captures all the complexities of this character in a completely natural way. 

If this movie feels completely real to us, that is because in a way it is. This is an adaption of Amy Liptrot's 2016 memoir of the same name. Liptrot co-wrote the screenplay with the film's director Nora Fingscheidt. The personal connection here can be felt constantly and that is another reason this stands out above more conventional films about the same subject. This marks the third feature film from German director Nora Fingscheidt. Her previous features were the German drama System Crasher (2019) and the Sandra Bullock lead Netflix movie, The Unforgivable (2021). Even this early in her career it is easy to tell that she is a director to keep an eye out for. 

This is an incredibly emotional powerful ride and a must watch movie.