Identity feels like something that should be simple. It is just who you are, right? Well, yes and no. It is that, but definitions are difficult and involve complex levels of context provided by life experience, racial history, familial history, and a certain amount of unknowable information that we only sometimes have awareness of at different points in our lives. The gaps in our identities are likely the most interesting; otherwise, what is the living of our moment-to-moment experience even for? The living, no matter how messy, will help inform where we go next and how we deal with it.
Bird in Hand, from first-time director Melody C. Roscher, explores this, and much more, under the guise of a familial dramedy. Bird (Alisha Wainwright), a biracial woman, has returned to her family’s home in the country, ostensibly because she is engaged to be married to her boyfriend, Frank. This leads her to her mother, Carlotta (Christine Lahti), with whom she has a strained relationship, and her stepfather, Dale (Jeffrey Nordling). As their relationship is explored, they also make connections with their neighbors Dennis (James Le Gros) and Leigh (Annabelle Dexter-Jones), a white married couple who have purchased a plantation home, but don’t worry, they are “updating the narrative.”
Wainwright has easily the most difficult task in the film. Roscher, also the screenwriter, is much more consumed with making Bird a real person rather than focusing on pure likability. This is not to say that she is unlikable per se, simply that she is an actual human being with flaws, some of her own making and some due to family history. Even through her issues, Bird’s ache for care, consideration, and answers to the questions that she is afraid to ask all comes through clearly and in a manner that makes us root for her. Her search for a possible meeting with her birth father, Bower (K. Todd Freeman), with the excuse of hiring him as musical entertainment for her wedding, offers her the challenge of acting with nothing but her talent and a screen featuring an advertisement for his band. The fact that Wainwright manages a gamut of emotions, including longing, worry, desperation, and frustration, all in the space of a few moments, is a testament to both her obvious talent and Roscher’s well-placed trust in her abilities.
From the beginning, which features a fight between Bird and Frank in which she is dressed as a bleeding bride for a Halloween party, Roscher handles difficult themes with aplomb. Bird’s reaction when being pseudo-proposed to (shock, confusion) may seem odd at this moment, but the script allows this moment to come full circle without ever holding your hand. When Carlotta is dismissive about her upcoming nuptials, we quickly find out that marriage, along with most expected life events, are frowned upon, both due to her “woo-woo” ideals and her difficult history with Bower leaving her after she became pregnant with Bird.
Although there is a massive amount of drama involved, the dark comedy that comes to the forefront almost immediately makes Bird in Hand a mostly easy watch. Yes, families are difficult and emotions are complex. But when you have Christine Lahti almost stealing a horse and white people asking a biracial young woman to pose for pictures in front of a plantation, there are plenty of opportunities for moments of levity that are taken advantage of by Roscher. Some moments feel a bit too much on the side of comedy, but these are brief before we return to Alisha Wainwright’s astounding performance of a complex woman.
But, like everything in life, nothing is truly simple. Is Bower cruel? Is Carlotta willfully misleading her daughter? Is Bird selfish? Are Carlotta and Dale a loving couple? Are Dennis and Leigh well-meaning white folks? These are all questions that have answers. The problem is that this all depends, not only on who you ask, but when you ask, as the answers, like identity, are constantly in a state of flux. We are all simply doing our best and reacting to the latest information we have. As we age, it becomes important to see our parents as real human beings, but there is maybe nothing harder to achieve. As sons and daughters, we want to be taken care of one moment, and we want a strong reaction the next. When Bird screams at her mother to “stop being comfortable,” it rocks you to your core. If we are going through emotional trauma, what could be more difficult than a calm person who we know is imperfect and roiling with emotions under the surface? That is, until those emotions come and we have to deal with them. Roscher bravely denies us any easy answers and lays a real, difficult, fractured relationship at our feet, daring us to pick up the pieces.
Bird In Hand held its World Premiere as a part of the U.S. Narrative Competition section of the 2025 Tribeca Festival.
Director: Melody C. Roscher
Screenwriter: Melody C. Roscher
Rated: NR
Runtime: 87m
Although there is a massive amount of drama involved, the dark comedy that comes to the forefront almost immediately makes Bird in Hand a mostly easy watch.
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GVN Rating
Dave is a lifelong film fan who really got his start in the independent film heyday of the 90’s. Since then, he has tried to branch out into arthouse, international, and avant garde film. Despite that, he still enjoys a good romcom or action movie. His goal is to always expand his horizons, through writing and watching new movies.
