Pick of the Day: “Catherine Called Birdy”

“You have wings. You must learn how to harness them,” the 14-year-old protagonist of “Catherine Called Birdy” is suggested halfway by the Medieval coming-of-age pic. Delightfully brash and at occasions laugh-out-loud humorous, the confident PG-13 comedy sees writer-director Lena Dunham harnessing her personal wings, bringing her distinct voice to an unlikely setting and style. The “Girls” alumna has made a kids’s film, a bona fide crowdpleaser a couple of thirteenth century teenager.

One of our most anticipated titles of the Toronto International Film Festival, we hoped that “Catherine Called Birdy” would provide “tween girls the adventure-filled non-fairytale they so deserve,” providing an “irreverently honest [take on] how very un-Disney life was for young women like Birdy, from the literal grit and grime, to the danger of being married off on a male guardian’s whim.” Ultimately, we had been dreaming of a “feminist folktale mothers can feel good about showing their daughters.”

It delivered.

“Game of Thrones” star Bella Ramsey stars as Birdy, a rebellious teen who’s precocious however has loads of rising as much as do. With his household’s monetary scenario in dire straits because of his overspending, Birdy’s father, a hilarious Andrew Scott (“Fleabag”), decides to marry Birdy off to a rich suitor, a plan Birdy finds wholly unacceptable. With creativity and gusto to spare, Birdy finds methods to drive her would-be husbands away. “I am, thank the Lord, very cunning,” she admits. “Most girls are, though we’re not given due credit for it.”

Introducing the movie at TIFF, Dunham cited the supply materials for the movie, Karen Cushman’s award-winning 1994 YA novel “Catherine, Called Birdy,” as her favourite e book from childhood, and her affection for the textual content is palpable. The eight-time Emmy nominee appears to be having the time of her life bringing this boisterous adaptation to the display screen, basking in the alternative to tag alongside on her heroine’s journey, guaranteeing that she harnesses her wings and soars. “You don’t get to decide who we are, where we go, or how much we cost like we’re just things — we’re not things,” Birdy proclaims at one level. “We’re people, and we can think, and we can hear, and we can feel.” It’s the variety of impassioned speech that might make Jo March proud.

“Catherine Called Birdy” is now in theaters and launches on Prime Video October 7.