Antonia Bird, The Most Underrated Director of the 90's

My podcast, Filmshake, covers movies from the 1990's. Our next episode centers around 1999's Antonia Bird-directed, Ravenous. I'd never seen Ravenous before prepping for this episode, nor any of the other four films Bird directed--all made in the 90's. Ravenous, a hybrid of dark humor, satire, and horror, caught me so off guard with its unique and singular nature, I decided to watch the other four Bird films. It didn't take long for me to fall in love. Bird, who sadly passed away in 2013, made five films whose consistent high quality and diversity of genre are stunning.
Bird's first feature, made after years of consistent work in British television, is the emotional, heart-wrenching drama, Safe. Safe, starring Aidan Gillen, Katie Hardy, and Robert Carlyle, focuses on the plight of several homeless youth on the U.K. streets. It's a supremely moving film. Bird then followed that up with the controversial Priest. This 1994 film centers around the plight of Linus Roache's titular character, a dogmatic Liverpool priest whose private life doesn't quite line up with his public one. He soon finds himself embroiled in several complex moral quandaries, butting heads against a more liberal priest, played brilliantly by Tom Wilkinson, while finding both comfort and confusion in his lover, a returning Carlyle. Priest drew negative attention from religious groups upon its release, but it's actually a quite sensitive and thoughtful film, whose only flaw is a few quick dips into melodrama. Priest's sob-inducing climax is simply one of the most emotionally powerful put to film.
After directing these two movies in her British homeland, Bird tested the waters of Hollywood with the romantic drama, 1995's Mad Love. Mis-marketed as a sexy romantic comedy, Mad Love is actually a sensitive and thoughtful (recurring descriptors of Bird's work) character study revolving around Drew Barrymore's mentally ill Casey, and the caretaker-prone Matt, played by Chris O'Donnell. Bird coaxes excellent performances from both actors, as she explores their codependent and doomed relationship. The movie failed with critics and audiences at the time, who apparently just wanted a silly, throwaway rom-com, instead of the deeper, more powerful film Bird created.
After her experience in Hollywood, Bird returned to England for the heist/crime drama, Face. While Face is likely Bird's weakest flick, it's still quite entertaining, bringing Robert Carlyle back into the Bird-fold as a struggling criminal, who finds that his less than lucrative life-of-crime is taking possibly a fatal turn for the worse. The gritty flick climaxes with a nutso police station shootout, where Carylyle's character and his brother-like colleague have to escape in the middle of a gun battle between one of their treacherous crew members and every single cop within walking distance. While none of Bird's previous films featured a sequence even remotely similar to this one, Bird shoots this final, ten-minute action scene with exciting flair, and it's one of the standout sequences of her career.
Bird's final live action film happened upon her almost entirely by chance. The 20th Century Fox-backed 1999 film, Ravenous, was several weeks into filming when, amidst much turmoil, it lost its director. The film just happened to star Carlyle, who suggested his old friend and collaborator, Bird, take the helm. The studio agreed, and Bird worked miracles, completing the film with essentially no prep. 

Ravenous blends disparate genres and tones effortlessly, and is truly a one-of-a-kind film. Set in America's 1840's Western frontier, Ravenous features Carlyle and Guy Pearce facing off in a cannibalistic battle of will, wits, and brawn. This film should have announced a stunning new talent to the global film scene, but instead, yet again, critics, audiences, and marketers were perplexed by Bird's offering, and either misunderstood or ignored the movie. Bird would never again direct a feature film. She passed away 14 years later, admired by her colleagues and peers, but little known outside of the industry in Great Britain. What a shame. 

Starting next week, I'll be posting reviews of all five of Bird's underrated films. I hope to bring as much attention as I can to this incredible filmmaker, who I hope one day, in the world outside of the United Kingdom, receives her due.