Scheme Birds bursts with the frustration of a generation of Scots let down by society’s promises. Rather than dragging down the energy, this tranquillity instead draws attention to the jitters and jumps of these young people who are in the process of choosing what their adulthood will look like. Each shot seems deeply considered, as if it had been storyboarded and blocked before the call to action. Filmen är regisserad av Ellen Fiske och Ellinor Hallin. Directed by first-time feature documentary directors Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin, Scheme Birds follows Gemma and her friends as they drift into adulthood. At the start, she lives with her grandfather, Joseph, who tends to pigeons and teaches her how to box. She and her friends describe beatings and crimes, but whatever trials they face, the camera is gentle and steady, providing the nurturing gaze they lack. 'Scheme Birds': Tribeca Review. This bleak documentary about lower-class Scottish teens takes its title from the term used to describe females who are always on the hustle. Gemma says the birds fly around the world, most return. Scheme Birds. Gemma is 18 years old. But in a place where “you either get knocked up or locked up,” innocent games can easily turn into serious crime. From childhood to motherhood, her life unfolds as innocent games turn towards serious crime. Will she escape her rundown town or find salvation in other ways—“get ‘knocked up’ or ‘locked up,’” as she quips. By Wendy Ide 2019-04-27T01:00:00+01:00. Captivating, pretty, and strong, she’s a tough teenager from Scotland’s projects. For all the impetuousness of its subjects, this is a film of remarkable respect and restraint — a documentary that carves shape into a messy reality. We see the fading steel town through the eyes of Gemma, a soon-to-be mother on the verge of adulthood. Gemma is 18 years old. From childhood to motherhood, her life unfolds as innocent games turn towards serious crime. But her grandfather, who raised her from infancy, won't accept that. Scheme Birds centers on Scottish teenager Gemma and the people in her life: her grandfather, who raised her after her mother abandoned her; her boyfriend Pat; her unlucky best friend Amy; and her neighbor JP. If Gemma is as tough as the town that raised her, the film around her is calm, presenting a measured portrait of a working class coming-of-age. SCHEME BIRDS centers on Scottish teenager Gemma and the people in her life: her grandfather, who raised her after her mother abandoned her; her boyfriend … But Gemma is young, and love comes soon enough. Everyone finds a distraction: Gemma’s grandfather keeps pigeons and teaches boxing, the kids drink and commit petty crime, and Gemma finds motherhood. Gemma is a bright-eyed teenager from Motherwell, Scotland, a former steel town in desperate decay, where violence is so frequent, kids are able to identify murders by the number of emergency vehicles that arrive. Scrappy Scottish teenager Gemma has never backed down from a fight. Meet Gemma. Every Friday Papa hosts a kind of competition regarding which is the finest pigeon that day. This documentary turns a tender eye toward a bright teenager who hopes to never leave her decaying Scottish hometown. Scheme Birds (2019) Documentary. Doing all he can to channel her energy … ‘Scheme Birds’ Review: Soft Gaze for a Hard Life. When you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission. Share. Scheme Birds follows Gemma over a period of a few years as she spends her days partying, planning a future with young offender boyfriend Pat, and works out some of her bubbling aggression at a boxing club run by her grandfather. She could go anywhere, she says, including Ibiza. While perhaps overly narrative, it never condescends or seeks easy answers. Synopsis. Ellen Fiske, Ellinor Hallin - 2019 - There are few prospects for young people in the Scottish town of Motherwell, where the working-class community has never recovered from the closure of the steelworks in 1997. Scheme Birds takes flight when it has the same fierce joy and pride in Motherwell that Gemma does. 90 min, UK-Sweden, 2019. "Scheme Birds" is the story of Gemma, a teenage troublemaker, growing up in a world of pigeons and violence. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. In a place where you “either get knocked up or locked up,” Gemma carves out brief moments of tenderness amidst the violence of her local scheme. But in a … She smokes cigarettes, and lives in Motherwell, Scotland—a thriving community until Margaret Thatcher’s policies brought down the steel mill. The story of Gemma, a teenage troublemaker, growing up in a world of pigeons and violence. Scheme Birds had its world premier at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival where it won Best Documentary Feature and the festival’s ‘Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award.’, (I hope Gemma finds a way to quit smoking. "You either get knocked up, or you get locked up" is the ominous summation of young girls trajectory in Motherwell. Scheme Birds (DVD) : The story of Gemma, a teenage troublemaker, growing up in a world of pigeons and violence. Scheme Birds. At the start of the documentary “Scheme Birds,” Gemma professes that she never wants to leave. Scheme Birds. She and her companions are called ‘scheme birds.’ “A scheme,” she says, “is like a non-snobby place to stay.” Gemma never knew her mother. Also, Sutter says that Gemma's birds have become a running gag and she has a new one every couple episodes. In the opening scene of Scheme Birds we meet Gemma. Scheme Birds (DVD) : The story of Gemma, a teenage troublemaker, growing up in a world of pigeons and violence. She’s in jogging clothing, running down an urban road lined with trees – and she’s smoking a cigarette. Sweden, ... Scrappy Scottish teenager Gemma has never backed down from a fight. We see the fading steel town through the eyes of Gemma, a soon-to-be mother on the verge of adulthood. Here, there are no raised voices, no bursts of violence. It’s hard to imagine a better beginning for this film, as it encapsulates the self-destructive behavior of nearly everyone we meet from the working-class … He warns her to “stay away from dafties,” advice she of course ignores. Fiske och Hallin har också svarat för manus. Scheme Birds bursts with the frustration of a generation of Scots let down by society’s promises. From childhood to motherhood, her life unfolds as innocent games turn towards serious crime. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/movies/scheme-birds-review.html The movie follows her through three critical years of her life, which she narrates in her own energetic and unaffected words. Rent or buy on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play or Vimeo. The visual style is unusual for a documentary. Gemma never knew her mother. RATING: 4/5 VIEW IT NOW ON: DIRECTOR Ellen Fiske, Ellinor Hallin That was the way of life in the small-town, low-income housing scheme where she grew up, southeast of Glasgow. Scheme Birds is a poetic, raw project, at times poignantly depressing, and, at others, inspiring and even fun as we are privy to people letting loose and cracking jokes in a typical coming-of-age movie fashion. Gemma in “Scheme Birds” (Photo by Ellinor Hallin) “Scheme Birds” Directed by Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin. Documentary. Directors: Ellen Fiske, Ellinor Hallin. Follow answered May 17 '14 at 14:00. Improve this answer. The year that Gemma was born was the same year in which she was robbed of a future. Not rated. She was raised, instead, by her grandfather who she calls Papa. Papa is teaching Gemma boxing. As Gemma says, scheme birds either get "locked up or knocked up," so perhaps her path is set. Now Gemma, still a child herself, has to consider the path that her new family will forge in a town where the possibilities in life seem limited. Scheme Birds, written and directed by Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin, is a hybrid of reality TV, coming-of-age tale, and documentary blending observations, interviews, and narrations about its protagonist, Gemma; following her as she leaves her childhood to enter the adult world. With worry in his eyes, he warns her about keeping company with kids who fight and do drugs. But her grandfather, who raised her from infancy, won't accept that. ), Scheme Birds: If You Stay Here, You Either Get Locked Up or Knocked Up, https://www.facebook.com/SchemeBirds4k.cinema/. While perhaps overly narrative, it never condescends or seeks easy answers. The directors Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin don’t shy away from the fact that Gemma’s life is full of hardship. Scheme Birds (DVD) : The story of Gemma, a teenage troublemaker, growing up in a world of pigeons and violence. Scheme Birds är en svensk-brittisk dokumentärfilm från 2019. SCHEME BIRDS. That was the way of life in the small-town, low-income housing scheme where she grew up, southeast of Glasgow. As the credits rolled, I wondered whether Gemma was okay. “Scheme Birds” employs a vérité approach, observing as life passes by, and the directors favor visual stillness over the shakier kineticism of hand-held camerawork. Scheme Birds tracks the life of Gemma, a young adolescent girl living in the Scottish town of Motherwell. She and her companions are called ‘scheme birds.’, “A scheme,” she says, “is like a non-snobby place to stay.”. It’s hard not to become attached as you watch these “scheme birds” leave the nest and slowly find their instinct for freedom and survival on their own terms. There will likely not be a return of any bird in particular. Scheme Birds movie reviews & Metacritic score: As her childhood turns into motherhood, teenage troublemaker Gemma comes of age in her fading Scottish steel town. From childhood to motherhood, her … World premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on April 26, 2019. From childhood to motherhood, her life unfolds as innocent games turn towards serious crime. As bleak as you would expect. She falls for Pat, a troubled teenager who has been in and out of jail, and they have a baby. BY Laura Berger June 30, 2020 “If you stay here you either get locked up or knocked up,” explains Gemma, the Scottish teenager at the center of “Scheme Birds.” Still, she hopes to spend the rest of her life in her struggling hometown. When not teaching, Papa raises and releases large numbers of pigeons. A tremendous lot happens in Scheme Birds' 90 minutes: Gemma gets pregnant by her ne'er-do-well boyfriend, Pat, and is disowned by her grandfather. Seamlessly editing the events of several years into one fluid, bittersweet character arc, “Scheme Birds” — the title is a local term for residents of the government housing scheme … Their scheme is Jerviston, a place where you “either get knocked up or locked up,” where there’s been nothing to do since Margaret Thatcher closed the local steelworks in … As her childhood turns into motherhood, teenage troublemaker Gemma comes of age in her fading Scottish steel town. With not much to expect from future, we follow Gemma as she expects the birth of her first child. - Jake Watt A veracious, fiercely sympathetic look at a tight-knit community, Scheme Birds takes flight when it has the same fierce joy and pride in Motherwell that Gemma does. The film gets impossibly close to its subjects, joining Gemma and Pat on cramped dates in a Ferris wheel box and lingering close enough while they sleep to catch the sound of their breathing. She’s young, maybe 16 or 17 years-old with bright blond hair and a charismatic face. From childhood to motherhood, her … She smokes cigarettes, and lives in Motherwell, Scotland—a thriving community until Margaret Thatcher’s policies brought down the steel mill. She moves to … "Scheme Birds" is the story of Gemma, a teenage troublemaker, growing up in a world of pigeons and violence. CGCampbell CGCampbell.
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