Penguin Bloom: Naomi Watt's excels in forgettable, cornball drama.

After finishing "Penguin Bloom" I thought it would be best to research the real events this film is based on to see which events took place and which events were purely fictional. A quick Google search led me to a "HistoryVSHollywood" article which to my surprise, showed that not only did events that initially appeared as contrived and signposted happened, but the film so accurately portrays most of the events so well that this could have easily could have been a documentary without having the extra effort of staging emotional scenes from recognisable names and it potentially would have made for a much better film with more

emotional resonance.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, what's this film about? Penguin Bloom tells the story of the Bloom family, who during their holiday to Thailand from their home in Australia, mother Sam (Naomi Watts) suffers a tragic accident which renders her pinned to a wheelchair, this not only puts her role as a mother to her three sons on the ropes but her chances of becoming a surfer again are shattered, a year later she spends her days alone and depressed while farther Cam (Andrew Lincoln) takes over domestic duties such as taking kids to school and cleaning the house, one day, eldest son Noah (Griffin Murray Johnston) who narrates much of the film finds a magpie with a broken wing and takes it in as a family pet. He names the bird Penguin, justification being "because it's black and white". A few scenes later we see Sam try to look after Penguin while the boys are in school. While she's at first irritated by the bird's inability to behave like a household pet, she soon finds comfort in its company and its determination to heal and fly again soon gives the strength in Sam to start living. I can only imagine the producers frothing at the mouth at reading this story as they've found the perfect true story to adapt and hopefully gain enough audience tears to hopefully sell it to the Oscars.

This is not to say that this is a bad film, some of the films best moments happen very early on when we see Sam struggle to adapt to her new life, one that conflicts with her hopes and dreams to live a fulfilling existence in her eyes and is instead reduced to feeling like a burden as her sons don't even acknowledge her whenever they need help as Dad is the only able parent in the family. The wave of emotions one must feel to have such aspirations taken away from you is perfectly encapsulated Watt's performance as well as the makeup department as they've made the rather smart choice in making Watt's look as tired and emotionally exhausted as possible instead of opting for extreme glossiness that works to make actresses as appealing as possible. Watt's is very convincing in her role and those moments earlier on are easily the most affecting out of the remainder of the runtime.

Aside from that however there isn't much at all remarkable about this film, director Glendyn Ivin and his cinematographer Sam Chiplin do capture some nice, dreamy shots of the beach with many involving the sunlight beaming from the head of the characters, but the strength of the actors far outweigh their ability for subtlety. The narration from Noah is overcompensated to explain the emotions to the audience and the film often relies on rather cheesy dream sequences that again further emphasise the emotions of the characters when the actors were already more than capable to emphasise this themselves.

Other problems with the film: There are other emotional payoffs that the film could have explored but instead misses these opportunities. For example, Noah being the eldest son is given more attention as he blames himself for what happened to his mother and that's not a bad arc on his own, however, the remaining two sons are given no interesting personalities other than a bunch of rambunctious little kids that play about a lot. Not denying that isn't what they do but more exploration into their trauma of what happened and how they cope would have been welcomed. The same goes for Sam's sister (Leeanna Walsman) and her mother (Jacki Weaver) the latter doesn't have much to do other than be overbearing and at one point scold's her husband for not being there for her despite him having to go to work and fulfil other duties which don't exactly paint her in a likeable light. Not that they can't explore some of the flaws of the real people but moments like these are not explored in depth other than a slight apology.

You might have noticed that I haven't really talked about the titular bird, that's partly because there isn't much of an interesting personality to it other than flying around the house, squawking loudly and occasionally pooping on the kitchen countertop. The films synopsis emphasis that the bird changes the family in magical ways, but the bird doesn't really play many roles into that other than the Bloom's learning to bond over its presence which is something I guess but Penguin becomes side-lined to the point where you forget that this what the film was about in the first place. The film ends with text explaining how Sam went on to compete in the Paracanoe world championships, which would make for some interesting material for an inspirational true story while Penguin could work as an accidental motivator but much like the other supporting characters/family members, it's another missed opportunity to make something more emotionally rewarding.

Penguin Bloom is not a terrible movie or even a bad one overall despite my seemingly harsh criticisms. The film is competently made, mostly well-acted and watchable. It could work really well as a Sunday afternoon viewing with the family, you may get a few tears and for the average viewer, it may resonate in ways most movies don't. But after seeing so many great movies that have come out last year that I've still not stopped thinking about, this just feels trite by today's standards.

Rating: 2.5/5