SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
When their dad suddenly passes away, college professor Helen Macdonald (played by Claire Foy) goes through some old photo albums and is struck by images of them with falcons, parrots and hawks. In an attempt to keep their father’s memory alive, they decide to acquire a goshawk. After driving to Scotland to pick up Mable, Helen starts to obsess over training her, feeding her and connecting with her. So much so that their responsibilities at the university become less important, their friendship with Christina (Denise Gough) becomes distanced, they’re no longer motivated to find a new place to live and the writing their promise to write their father’s eulogy slips their mind. As they fall deeper and deeper into depression, they begin to realize the only thing bringing them comfort from her father’s death is the very thing getting in their way of moving on.
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Just as she was in WOMEN TALKING, Foy is incredible in this. Her ability to not only handle and interact with a hawk on set, but also effortlessly convey the nuances of grief while doing so, are astounding.
Not to be outdone is director Philippa Lowthorpe. Embracing flashbacks in a film is a constant risk of upsetting the rhythm of the viewing experience. That isn’t the case here as Lowthrope presents each flashback in key moments that informs the audience why Helen is reacting a certain way and, maybe more importantly, makes them feel like a natural part of the scene.
Brendan Gleeson plays Alisdair Macdonald, a famed British photographer, and he brings the perfect amount of humor, joy, pride and heart to what little screen time he gets.
For all it’s high marks, H IS FOR HAWK is a little slow and will leave some audiences bored. There’s no doubt Foy and the hawk connect with viewers but, at times, the pace could’ve been picked up a bit. Also, if it weren’t for Foy, I wouldn’t have connected nearly as much as I did.
If you like movies with some momentum, you may want to skip this one. That said, if you appreciate phenomenal performances that give you a glimpse inside human emotions, H IS FOR HAWK should be on your must-watch list.
JKG SCORE: 7.0
Untitled Film Project 