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H IS FOR HAWK – Review by Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin , , , , , , , , ,
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The exquisitey crafted H is for Hawk is British filmmaker Philippa Lowthorpe’s profoundly moving and utterly engaging cinematic metaphoric meditation on mourning and the transitory nature of life and nature, itself.

The film is powered by Claire Foy’s brilliant performance as Helen, a Dad-devoted Cambridge-based academic and research fellow who copes with the sudden death of her father by adopting and training a goshawk, a low flying feral bird of prey whom she names Mabel and who gradually is taught to become her ‘hunting partner.’

Helen’s father (Brendan Geeson) had been a well known and beloved photographer, an avid birdwatcher and chronicler of nature. Memory of their shared nature adventures — often presented in the film as flashbacks — fuels Helen’s obsessive passion about her relationship with Mabel. The bird is a beautiful, fierce and smart creature of nature. Foy’s fearless handling of the willful, potentialy dangerous goshawk is astonishing.

The script, cowritten by Lowthorpe with Emma Donahue and based on the autobiographical memoire by Helen Macdonald, is structured to keep you thoroughly emotionally captivated, while simultaneoulsy providing sufficient space for the story to seep into your psyche and generate contemplation of its meaning. Lowthorpe’s masterful storytelling is supported by Charlotte Bruus Christiansen’s stunning cinematography. The footage of Helen flying and catching her prey is absolutely awesome. Every element of the superb sound design and impecable set decor is perfectly fitting, too.

Some viewers may find the film’s authentic hunting sequences disturbing, but H is for Hawk is entirely authentic in its focus on nature and natural behaviour. Goshawks are hunters that kill and eat smaller animals, and that’s that. And, that said, despite the hunting scenes and its presentation of deep and profoundly challenging themes, the film’s overall gentle tone keeps it from being a tough watch. It is, instead, a must see!

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Jennifer Merin

Jennifer Merin is the Film Critic for Womens eNews and contributes the CINEMA CITIZEN blog for and is managing editor for AWFJ.org, the online magazine of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, of which she is President. She has served as a regular critic and film-related interviewer for The New York Press and About.com. She has written about entertainment for USA Today, The L.A. Times, US Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Endless Vacation Magazine, NY Daily News, New York Post, SoHo News and other publications. After receiving her MFA from Tisch School of the Arts (Grad Acting), Jennifer performed at the O'Neill Theater Center's Playwrights Conference, Long Wharf Theater, American Place Theatre and LaMamma, where she worked with renown Japanese director, Shuji Terayama. She subsequently joined Terayama's theater company in Tokyo, where she also acted in films. Her journalism career began when she was asked to write about Terayama for The Drama Review. She became a regular contributor to the Christian Science Monitor after writing an article about Marketta Kimbrell's Theater For The Forgotten, with which she was performing at the time. She was an O'Neill Theater Center National Critics' Institute Fellow, and then became the institute's Coordinator. While teaching at the Universities of Wisconsin and Rhode Island, she wrote "A Directory of Festivals of Theater, Dance and Folklore Around the World," published by the International Theater Institute. Denmark's Odin Teatret's director, Eugenio Barba, wrote his manifesto in the form of a letter to "Dear Jennifer Merin," which has been published around the world, in languages as diverse as Farsi and Romanian. Jennifer's culturally-oriented travel column began in the LA Times in 1984, then moved to The Associated Press, LA Times Syndicate, Tribune Media, Creators Syndicate and Arcamax Publishing. She's been news writer/editor for ABC Radio Networks, on-air reporter for NBC, CBS Radio and for Westwood One's America In the Morning. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association in the Film, Documentary and TV branches and a voting member of the Black Reel Awards. For her AWFJ archive, type "Jennifer Merin" in the Search Box (upper right corner of screen).