Julia Jackman has followed Bonus Track with this queer fantasy-fable that has a streak of earnestness to go with the romantasy energy and gorgeous costumes from designer Susie Coulthard. It’s adapted by Jackman from Isabel Greenberg’s 2016 graphic novel of the same title, and inspired generally by Scheherazade and the One Thousand and One Nights – and also I think by Julie Dash, Peter Greenaway and maybe the theatricality of Agnès Varda’s One Hundred and One Nights. Emma Corrin and Maika Monroe star, with Nicholas Galitzine and Amir El-Masry in support; Charli xcx makes an appearance, and there’s also a tiny intriguing cameo for critic Sophie Monks Kaufman. It adds up to a likable movie, a little fey but unexpectedly subtle – although the meta-level of storytelling sometimes has for me the disconcerting effect of halting and dissipating the all-important narrative energy.
We are in a fairytale medieval world created by the god Birdman (Richard E Grant). Or rather, a world envisioned originally as a gender-coeval utopia by his daughter Kiddo (Safia Oakley-Green), but then spoiled by Birdman in a fit of sexist pique. In this place, women are not allowed to read or write but they are allowed to tell stories, and it is this skill that distinguishes the maidservant Hero (Corrin), who waits upon the shy, melancholy noblewoman Cherry (Monroe), and has become her intimate best friend.
