Even Naomi Watts can’t fly above the inspirational pap of Netflix’s Penguin Bloom
Film Reviews Netflix
No penguins appear in Netflix’s new weepie Penguin Bloom, and a cynical person might assume that such a misleading title must have been generated by the company’s fabled algorithm (with Bloom thrown in to remind older viewers of Bloom County and its beloved penguin character, Opus). In truth, the film was adapted from an Australian memoir of the same name, though the book’s U.S. publisher initially chose to market it more straightforwardly as Penguin The Magpie: The Odd Little Bird Who Saved A Family. Written by photographer Cameron Bloom (with Bradley Trevor Greive), and itself inspired by his family’s popular Instagram account, this bestseller chronicles the harrowing-to-heartwarming period immediately after his wife, Sam, suffered a spinal-cord injury that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Depressed and despondent, feeling utterly useless, Sam had trouble—mentally much more than physically—just getting out of bed in the morning… until one of her three young sons found a baby magpie that had fallen out of its nest, and brought “Penguin” (named for its black and white plumage) home in order to care for it.
Naomi Watts and Andrew Lincoln play Sam and Cam on screen, but Penguin Bloom’s true stars are the various trained magpies who play Penguin (supplemented by occasional CG bird action). The Blooms don’t keep their new friend in a cage, allowing it to wander freely around the house; magpies (and corvids in general) are arguably the most intelligent non-mammalian animals, and it’s mild fun, for a while, to watch this one swipe teabags out of people’s mugs and grow attached to one of the kids’ stuffed toys. But screenwriters Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps make the parallels between woman and bird so insultingly explicit that director Glendyn Ivin may as well have added an animated lightbulb repeatedly switching on over Sam’s head as she watches Penguin grow and flourish. Its first successful flight convinces her to try kayaking, a sport that doesn’t require the use of her legs. (Real-life Sam has won competitions.) A fight between Sam and her mother (Jacki Weaver), who won’t stop treating her like a burden, gets interrupted by the sound of Penguin being attacked by other magpies. The movie won’t stop treating you like an idiot.
Because Watts is a gifted actor, Penguin Bloom does sometimes convey paraplegia’s emotional trials—the frustration of no longer being able to accomplish simple tasks that you’d always taken for granted, the sometimes maddening necessity to rely upon others for assistance. Even that’s familiar territory, though (going back at least as far as 1981’s Whose Life Is It, Anyway?), and making the movie family-friendly requires letting key aspects go completely unexplored. It’s quite touching when Cam tells Sam that he considers himself the luckiest man alive, because the woman he loves survived a fall that could easily have killed her; viewers curious about how this devoted couple has adapted their sex life to their new circumstances, however, will have to keep on wondering (or watch The Sessions), as they never do anything more ardent than hold hands. Penguin doesn’t get any, either, ultimately flying away after apparently having determined that its inspirational example is no longer needed. Seconds before departing, it returns the stuffed toy to the kid’s bed, thereby signifying its own rite of passage. If you’re gonna go that ludicrously far, why not just have the thing talk, too?
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The headline gave me a pause. For an A-listish actor (A-/B+ list?), Watts has been in remarkably few memorable movies, especially in recent years. Maybe that’s just the curse of being a woman in Hollywood above the age of 30, and maybe there’s some hidden gems I haven’t seen.
I’m with you. She had a nice stretch in the early 2000s, but I really am saddened that she’s been in so so many forgettable ones, which I admittedly haven’t even bothered seeing despite being a fan. I do think age sadly plays a big factor (no matter how gorgeous she still is), and in combination with her look (white, blonde, thin), there’s probably a pretty big supply/demand imbalance. I always think Hollywood still likes to think you can’t have more than one or two Asians or one or two Black people in a movie that’s not specifically about Asians and Black people, respectively, but I’m sure there’s some limit albeit a higher one for the number of blondes in their 40s or 50s in the industry rather than at a movie level.
Wow, like minds, because the question that immediately popped into my head was, “Um, what the hell happened to Naomi Watts?”
Yeah, I just watched her in Luce, and didn’t realize it was her because frankly the last movie I saw featuring her was The Ring.
The last things I saw her in were Birdman and While We’re Young, and I’d forgotten she was in both of them (in part because I’ve forgotten as much as possible about the former, and the latter didn’t care very much about her character).
oh *shit* I did technically watch Birdman, but TBH I probably rewatched The Ring after that.
She’s certainly kept busy doing multiple projects each year. Honestly I think what happened to her, what happened to a lot of actors, is she got nominated for an Oscar, and when that happens it changes the kind of actor you are. It can be ruinous, because all of a sudden you start doing Oscar roles. Characters in historical epics, or characters overcoming hardship. Roles that demands lots of Emotion and Big Speeches about never giving up. It worked, almost. She got another Oscar nom for The Impossible. And I think she’s kept chasing that big brass ring, like so many do, to diminishing returns. Just look at Glenn Close or Amy Adams. Hell I’d argue even Tom Hanks has fallen victim to this. I yearn for him to play a villain, to do more comedy, to challenge himself, but he’s Tom Hanks. Truth be told, unless it’s an actor receiving an award toward the end of their career, or at their peak (Laura Dern’s Oscar, for example, is as much a recognition of her whole career, as it is one role), I dread it when I see a great actor get a nom, or worse, the win. Because it ruins them.
Nobody here watched the Twin Peaks revival, huh?
Yeah, I was gonna say people. Twin Peaks: The Return is worth like 20 oscar-bait flicks.
“A fight between Sam and her mother (Jacki Weaver), who won’t stop treating her like a burden, gets interrupted by the sound of Penguin being attacked by other magpies.”Ahahahahahahaha, this sounds hilarious. “Mother! Your vicious WORDS are like vicious BIRDS! Pecking my ears with their angry disparagement!”
I consider Naomi Watts to be one of the best actresses living today.
She can’t handle the pap!
I got a Bloom County notification for this?!
The idea of the title being a reference was quite a reach, and yet that is the reason I clicked on this review.
Pass the pap, please.
For those wondering, the Hierarchy of Angry Black And White Australia Birds goes, from least to most aggro:* Fairy Penguin* Magpie* Peewee* Willy Wagtail Willy Wagtails will attack wedgetails relentlessly.
I guess you could call this review a pap smear.( I see the door, you don’t have to yell )