We’ve made a movie about almost every single sport there is. I think what happened here, is that someone noticed that there was a gaping hole where “racing pigeons” was, and decided to write an inspirational sports drama around that. Sadly, instead of this making any sense whatsoever, they rope in an angsty teenager as the lead. So, a sport almost no one knows anything about is talked about by teens like they probably talk about the latest hashtag trends.
At its core, it is a heartwarming film with room for improvement. A coming of age story wrapped in a child of divorce subplot, director Dean Israelite uses two gifted actors at a wide edge of the spectrum, Brooklyn Prince and Brian Cox, to anchor his story about pigeons. Like most coming of age tales, this one highlights friendship, in common places and unlikely, and forgiveness, as our young protagonist has to learn to forgive the world around her for her current state, and Cox’s mentor character also has a lot to forgive, as he passes on the wisdom. It always seems like these mentor characters have something in their past, that if it hadn’t been for them running into a misspent youth, they never would have worked that deep emotional pain out.
The catalyst for this unlikely friendship is that Caitlin (Prince) is facing a new future of a child of divorce, when she finds out that her mom can no longer keep the house they live in due to it being too expensive. So with the help of a friend (who is going through very obvious unrequited love problems), she plots to steal racing pigeons, after a friend of her Mom’s randomly gifts her some. She finds out that the most sought after racing pigeon of all is not far away, so she sets out to nab it, and sell it on the Russian black market, because ther’es a kid at school who speaks Russian. And, no, this is not a joke.
What she doesn’t count on is that Yan (Cox) would catch them in the act, and use his super sleuthing skills to find her. Instead of blowing up her life, they make a pact, which includes him teaching her to race pigeons, while also helping to find his prized best friend. Prince’s rebellious teen is a long way from the precocious youth she broke through in The Florida Project, and Cox is playing a much warmer character than usual. He has a grumpy side, but it is well covered by the film’s aim to pull at your easily teased emotional core.
What I love, as a fan of Brian Cox, is that the role is large enough for him here that we get to really appreciate his nuanced and heartfelt performance. Obviously, the easy ask would be to have Cox play some version of Logan Roy, but instead of that gruff exterior, there’s a tenderness in his character he rarely gets to exhibit, as he makes conscious choices to leave this teen better off than he found her. Of course, we learn why as the film nears its emotional payoff, but I can’t ruin everything for you.
Sadly, as this dropped on Paramount Plus, I wasn’t able to catch the information as to who made the audio description. However, considering the use of birds in the film, the audio description captures what can almost be described as audio cinematography at times, giving us an idea of how these birds fly and why it is so important to this story about racing pigeons. seriously, I still cannot believe I watched a movie about racing pigeons.
While the film does set up this emotional bond, it does play out exactly like you expect it will, so there’s not really much new to see here. I would watch anything with Brian Cox, and he certainly bring along a bonus point or two simply in his casting. But this is a predictable film, and it is one that assumes far too many people not only know about racing pigeons, but care about it, and instead of treating it like a niche element waiting to break out, it treats its subject matter like its so cool that even teens really secretly want to race pigeons. It likely will resonate with kids who can relate to the circumstances of Prince’s character, but adults are likely to find Cox’s performance as the redeemable aspect. It’s a grab bag of a film, and some may like it, and others won’t. It kinda flies right through the middle, offering as many reasons to see it as reasons not to.
Final Grade: C
