Claire Foy in ‘H Is for Hawk’. Picture: Courtesy of Roadside Points of interest.
Opening in theaters on January twenty third is the brand new biographical drama ‘H Is for Hawk’, directed by Philippa Lowthorpe and starring Claire Foy, Denise Gough, Lindsay Duncan, and Oscar nominee Brendan Gleeson.
Launch Date: Jan 23, 2026
Run Time: 2 hr 8 min
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Preliminary Ideas
Claire Foy in ‘H Is for Hawk’. Picture: Courtesy of Roadside Points of interest.
Primarily based on a memoir of the identical identify by Helen Macdonald, ‘H Is For Hawk’ tells the story of a girl whose devastating grief over the demise of her father is channeled by way of her coaching of a goshawk, a predatory hen that’s notoriously tough to wrangle – with the hen changing into a metaphor for the lady’s personal struggles with anguish and melancholy.
Whereas the movie has simplified the e book’s narrative, ‘H Is For Hawk’ is each unsentimental and shifting because it charts a journey that takes Helen down some darkish paths. Claire Foy (‘The Crown’) is great within the lead function, and her interactions along with her hawk, named Mabel (and performed by two real-life Goshawks), are essentially the most fascinating sequences in a quietly highly effective story of discovering oneself once more.
Story and Path
Philippa Lowthorpe behind the scenes of ‘H Is for Hawk’. Picture: Courtesy of Roadside Points of interest.
Helen Macdonald is a analysis scholar and trainer at Cambridge’s Jesus Faculty who’s shattered by the information that her beloved father – famend photojournalist Alisdair Macdonald (Brendan Gleeson, ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’) – has all of a sudden handed away. Endlessly curious concerning the world and all the time in search of data, Helen’s dad has been a guiding gentle for her. Making an attempt to comprise her grief, Helen decides to once more take up falconry – which she practiced for years when she was youthful – and practice one of the crucial tough birds to grasp, a European Goshawk.
After buying a Goshawk from a Scottish breeder, Helen devotes all of her time and life to coaching the hen, which she names Mabel. Their relationship is tough at first, however whilst she efficiently earns the hawk’s belief and trains it, Helen’s personal life falls into deep disrepair: she grows distant from her household and associates, her home – which she’s anticipated to go away when her present time period with Cambridge ends – turns into unkempt and untidy, and she or he ignores her work and even the writing of a eulogy for her father’s memorial service.
‘H Is for Hawk’ director Philippa Lowthorpe.
With a screenplay co-written by director Philippa Lowthorpe and novelist Emma Donoghue (‘Room’), ‘H Is For Hawk’ focuses on the central narrative of Macdonald and Mabel whereas stripping out parts like a biographical have a look at writer T.H. White’s personal Goshawk expertise in addition to Macdonald’s insights into nature. A few of the latter is retained by way of the sequences of Helen and Mabel attending to know one another and the hen’s first makes an attempt at looking and flying – that are fascinating in their very own proper and directed by Lowthorpe with a form of restrained thriller and grandeur (to not point out beautiful work from cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen).
These scenes are a part of the bigger narrative of Helen’s grappling with not simply her loss however her personal sense of id and self-worth within the wake of her father’s passing. Her bond with Mabel leads her to grow to be extra feral herself, threatening to overwhelm the remainder of her life. Her eventual reclamation is just not overly melodramatic, and if something, the movie’s ultimate scenes resolve the protagonist’s most important battle maybe just a little too rapidly. However on the similar time, ‘H Is For Hawk’ is a deeply affecting have a look at the feel of grief and reminiscence, the thriller of nature, and the finality of demise itself.
Forged and Performances
(L to R) Claire Foy and Brendan Gleeson in ‘H Is for Hawk’. Picture: Courtesy of Roadside Points of interest.
Finest recognized for enjoying the younger Queen Elizabeth II in ‘The Crown,’ Claire Foy is great right here because the headstrong, initially outgoing Helen (the actual individual is non-binary, whereas the movie’s Helen makes use of ‘she/her’), portraying each the character’s power and vulnerability with subtlety and empathy. She’s extraordinary in her interplay with the 2 birds taking part in Mabel, who themselves are a implausible presence onscreen. Foy is wholly plausible as an individual who’s skilled with falconry but is relearning it by way of one in all its most tough topics, projecting each confidence and nervousness.
The supporting forged – together with the Mabels – is noteworthy as nicely, with residing legend Brendan Gleeson offering Alisdair with a twinkle within the eye, loads of good humor, and a wealthy sense of openness to the world round him in his too-brief flashback scenes. Denise Gough is robust and delicate as nicely, as Helen’s greatest pal Christina, and Lindsay Duncan successfully portrays each the unhappiness and rising concern of Helen’s mum.
Remaining Ideas
Brendan Gleeson in ‘H Is for Hawk’. Picture: Courtesy of Roadside Points of interest.
Gently informed even in its scenes of the Goshawk looking and Helen at one level sleeping on the ground of her filthy house like an animal herself, ‘H Is For Hawk’ is a fascinating movie that pulls you in with Foy and Gleeson’s remarkably humane performances and the arresting presence of Mabel herself, whose detached face mirrors the unemotional state that Helen craves however can not actually obtain.
As an adaptation of a e book that depends closely on inside monologue and exposition, ‘H Is For Hawk’ might not fully seize the supply materials’s complexity. However as a have a look at the facility of affection and reminiscence — and the denial of sorrow when the previous is taken away and leaves solely the latter — the movie actually takes flight.
‘H Is For Hawk’ receives a rating of 85 out of 100.
(L to R) Lindsay Duncan and Claire Foy in ‘H Is for Hawk’. Picture: Courtesy of Roadside Points of interest.
What’s the plot of ‘H Is for Hawk’?
After dropping her beloved father (Brendan Gleeson), Helen (Claire Foy) finds herself saved by an unlikely friendship with a cussed hawk named Mabel. By way of the bond, Helen rediscovers the fantastic thing about being alive.
Who’s within the forged of ‘H Is for Hawk’?
‘H Is for Hawk’ opens in theaters on January twenty third.
Listing of Films & TV Exhibits That includes Claire Foy:
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