Despite the presence of the excellent Ellen Burstyn, Kornél Mundruczó’s avian-based road movie never takes flight.
The day my grandmother died, an insouciant pigeon sat outside the window as the news broke, unmoved even as our existence grew bothersome. The same events transpired almost a decade later when my grandfather passed away, this time with double the near-divine avian presence, bolstering my family’s grief-induced hypothesis that perhaps they represented the existence of a spiritual guardian or even reincarnation. Whether that be the truth or merely a coincidence we projected desperate meaning onto, it was the first thing that came to mind upon introduction to the feathered centrepiece of Kornél Mundruczó’s Place To Be.
Upon returning from the overgrown grounds of her husband George’s grave, Brooke Graham (Ellen Burstyn) discovers a pigeon strolling through her hallway. Eventually shooed out of a window and dismissed as an isolated incident, the void left by the creature’s undesirable presence is quickly filled by the arrival of Brooke’s meddling children Ron (Murray Bartlett) and Molly (Pamela Anderson).
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As the more passive of the two, Molly observes while her brother relentlessly pesters their mother on two fronts: relocate into a retirement complex and exchange some of his late father’s artwork into cold, hard cash. From the little we know about Brooke at this stage, neither scenario appeals to her seemingly content disposition and glaringly quintessential senior-citizen lifestyle.
That night the very same pigeon – an ex-racer who will soon become affectionately known as Intruder – sits at the foot of Brooke’s bed. Feeling more like fate than a fluke, she embraces the nocturnal caller and decides to take it under her wing. Armed with her new pal in a cage and an alarmingly tiny bag packed, she boards a sleeper train from Chicago to New York City on a mission to return their feather friend to its rightful owner.
But what is a road movie without an unlikely helping hand? Enter Nelson Greene (Taika Waititi), an oddball luxury realtor grappling with a recent divorce, trying to understand his child’s gender exploration, and, naturally, dismissing his own alcohol issues. Setting off on a coop-crawl, if you will, the unlikely pair encounter one monotonous hurdle after another.
Played by up to twenty-five of the most endearing pigeons you are guaranteed to have ever laid eyes on (Burstyn says her favourite co-star was one named Opal), Intruder is the undeniable highlight within this patchwork of a story, one that sorely omits the adjoining stitches. Riddled with flimsy humour and by-the-book clichés, Place to Be never builds enough momentum to even take off, let alone land with any real resonance.
Rather than expend its energy injecting nuance into the evolution of its two central characters, Mundruczó instead attempts an emotional coup, relying on the technical crutches of slow motion and an admittedly affecting score to force its hand under the guise of earnestness. In reality, the director’s tepid vision and Kata Wéber’s opaque penmanship attempt to reap the benefits of seeds the script never bothers to sow.
As the newest rival to June Squibb in the burgeoning ‘elderly lady goes on a bizarre side quest ’ cinematic universe, legendary Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn brings the goods to a role that offers her next to nothing in return, while Taika Waititi is, well, Taika Waititi. In fact, the film offers Burstyn one real idea of substance to work with, which is that Brooke is in pursuit of a happy ending to her final chapter of life after years spent dedicating herself to her family. Yet the overarching execution dismisses this sentiment entirely, only exacerbating the film’s greatest flaw.
In the traditional sense, a road movie is meant to be transformative for the characters within it, conjuring some form of inner revelation and altering their trajectory. Here, it feels as though an oversight relinquishes any profound metaphor or the projection of greater meaning onto the journey and its driving force, opting for an abundance of telling over showing.
It is easy enough for a character to claim they have gained perspective, yet when the pair finally conclude their spree of cheap thrills and part ways, Nelson may be marginally more compassionate towards his loved ones, but for all the miles travelled, it is difficult to see Brooke ending up anywhere other than exactly where she started.
