Sydney Film Festival Review - The Outrun

 

“It never gets easy. It just gets less hard.”

Sobering, truthful and raw, The Outrun is an honest account of the struggles of alcoholism and it’s isolating effects, with a heartwrenching Saiorse Ronan earnestly journeying from addict towards recovery amidst the cold, windy backdrop of the Orkney Islands. 

Discussion Points:

Based on the memoir of Amy Liptrot who returned to her childhood home in Orkney to recover from her alcoholism, there’s something beautifully unique about the inner turmoil of addiction and the outer isolating, cold, windy weather of the Orkney Islands - and how the antidote to surviving both is community and vocation. When you know who you are and where you belong, the inner peace transcends the need to soothe inner demons with a bottle or withdraw into one’s self. Saoirse Ronan is superb, with deep sorrow, guilt and pain, that she processes as she recovers. To see her hopeful and happy by the films end really is a triumph after her battles and lows. Told in a non-liner fashion, I was occasionally a little lost but still found myself emotionally engaged, even if I found the timeline a little muddled.   It’s beautifully adapted from Liptrot, with a deeply human core and Nora Fingscheidt directs with deep intimacy and care. Overall, The Outrun is a deeply affecting film about alcoholism, addiction, mental health and recovery with an outstanding Saoirse Ronan that overcomes some messy pacing to still deliver a hard hitting and emotional story.