Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023) 
Director: Sam Fell
Screenwriters: Karey Kirkpatrick, John O’Farrell, Rachel Tunnard
Starring: Bella Ramsey, Thandiwe Newton, Zachary Levi, Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, David Bradley, Jane Horrocks, Romesh Ranganathan, Daniel Mays, Josie Sedgwick-Jones, Peter Serafinowicz, Nick Mohammed, Miranda Richardson

On the surface, the original Chicken Run (2000) was a fantastic children’s movie and a feat for animated films. It was 90 minutes of pure feathery fun and righteous chicken anger. The movie had impeccable comedic timing akin to Aardman Studio’s other works like Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. These movies have a beating heart and soul that has stuck with children and adults alike because of their ability to wrap us in the warm hug of their respective worlds. And still, beneath it all lies something even deeper, something profound. For many millennials and cuspers, Chicken Run was an introduction to Marxism and revolution itself. 

As rebel chicken, Ginger (played by Julia Sawalha in 2000) rallies the hens against tyrannical farmers, she dares them to imagine a world governed only by their own will. “Don’t you get it?” she clucks, “There’s no morning headcount, no dogs, no farmers, no coops and keys, and no fences.” It’s a powerful cry for revolution – a call to rise up against injustice, no matter the cost. Though the film is filled with slapstick humor, its demand to rage against oppression transcends the children’s animation genre, cementing it as a powerful allegory for World War II and universal demands for human (and chicken) rights. 

Needless to say, the sequel, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, was highly anticipated by audiences and critics. Nearly 20 years after the original, the follow-up had big shoes to fill. What lessons would the new Chicken Run teach us? Perhaps something about the rise of fascism? Environmentalism? Maybe it would lead us to the answers we’ve all been searching for in these tumultuous times? Unfortunately, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget takes more of a formulaic follow-up approach than broaching anything remotely groundbreaking. 

In this rendition, Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky (Zachary Levi, replacing Mel Gibson) return, now living in an idyllic, poultry utopia. Though they are happy in their new homes, they are closed off from the rest of society. Their daughter, Molly (Bella Ramsey), takes after her mother and dreams of life bigger than their confined existence on the island. Soon, Molly escapes to the mainland and finds herself trapped in a chicken factory called Fun-Land Farm. Now, it’s up to the other chickens to break into the factory, a subversion from the previous film’s breakout. 

Dawn of the Nugget isn’t completely without charm. The animation is beautiful and bright, stepping away from the original film’s muted color palate to favor a more vibrant chicken paradise. Fun-Land Farm is garishly bright, showcasing the false promises of the deceptively named poultry plant. Even the heist-like stunts feel higher stakes and more elaborate. There are more hijinks, slipping, falling, and scrambling than ever. 

Though the scale feels dialled up to 11, the film is missing its original creativity and simplistic but resilient spirit that made it an instant classic. Dawn of the Nugget is much more concerned with simple tropes like breaking away from tradition and marching to the beat of your own drum than anything revolutionary. Its simple premise and resistance to taking risks – both thematically and comedically – make the 101-minute run feel like a bit of a slog. 

It’s a lot to ask of a film – to be both a succinct manifesto about the state of modern politics and revolutionary movements and a hokey comedy about chickens falling on their heads – but it has been done before. Perhaps the reason Dawn of the Nugget felt so flat is the enormous shadow its predecessor casts upon the film. And, in the 20 years in between the first and second editions of Ginger and Rocky’s story, we’ve had plenty of time to fill in the gaps on our own. Dawn of the Nugget is a fine movie to turn on for the kids on a Saturday afternoon, but turn on Chicken Run (2000) and you might just have a revolution on your hands. 

Score: 12/24

Recommended for you: Aardman Animation Movies 2000-2020 Ranked

Adult Life Skills (2016)
Director: Rachel Tunnard
Screenwriter: Rachel Tunnard
Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Lorraine Ashbourne, Alice Lowe, Brett Goldstein, Ozzy Myers, Eileen Davies, Edward Hogg

This one might be an uncomfortable watch for any adult in a difficult transition period of their lives, especially if they’re watching it with their parents and doubly so if they still live at home with them. That said, Adult Life Skills is also funny, soulful and comes complete with a very distinctive style.

Following the untimely death of her twin brother, Anna (Jodie Whittaker) moves into her mother’s (Lorraine Ashbourne) garden shed and reverts to a perpetual life of daydreaming and DIY movies. Her family and friends urge Anna to move on with her life, but will she ever be able to overcome her grief? Being forced to babysit an equally imaginative kid named Clint (Ozzy Myers) going through his own family crisis just might be the boost she needs…

2016 really was an abysmal year for Hollywood blockbusters, but conversely it was a pretty great one for the British indie, and especially those tackling the very difficult subject of grief. Much like the similarly-themed Nina Forever, Adult Life Skills approaches loss with a bittersweet wryness. It doesn’t trivialise losing someone important or downplay the grieving process, nor does it shamelessly exploit the subject for tears. It just acknowledges that such incidents affect everyone differently.

There are some great low-key one-liners scattered throughout the film. On arriving to work at a grotty children’s activity centre and being immediately greeted by a member of the public proffering a used condom, Alice Lowe’s character lets out an almighty sigh and responds “Sometimes I wish the Suffragettes hadn’t bothered”. Anna brushes off a clumsy attempt at a flirtatious advance with “I’ve still got spots and I’m getting grey hair as well!”. Whittaker’s Anna is compellingly unglamorous, completely real. A running gag has her running out of clean clothes and having to turn up to work in a bizarre assortment of whatever she has found lying around. She may well become a bizarre fashion icon for the film’s cult followers.

The brilliantly stoic young Clint confides to Anna that “I want to be like you when I’m older… sad and angry all the time”. Later, his wisdom beyond his years helps her begin to accept her brother’s death: “The sad bit’s he’s dead, not talking about him”. It’s a master stroke that the lost twin was the funny one, the one with drive (we see him, played by Edward Hogg, take the lead on all the home movies they made together). Anna balanced them as a pair with her thoughtfulness and practicality but finds herself adrift without the missing element. She has become half a person.

Anna’s mum’s attempts to get her to overcome grief when she isn’t nagging her about getting something out of life is unhelpfully pointing out that “It’s still your birthday you know” when her daughter dreads marking another year without her twin brother and is far from the point of wanting to celebrate anything. Anna’s mother’s attitude to life and her love-hate relationship with even her closest family is summed up with the fury she confronts her own mother (Eileen Davies) with as she tries to help by loading the dishwasher: “Only a sociopath would put mugs on the bottom shelf!”.

Early on we are gifted with a beautiful, simple and heartbreaking montage. The way film is used thematically and literally as part of the plot to save or relive a memory, as a way to preserve the past and people who are no longer with us, but also as a crutch and an excuse for not moving on, has real punch. Anna’s “thumb films” seem a quirky diversion at first, a way for Anna to continue coasting and avoid committing to anything in life. But as the story progresses it becomes clear that, to Anna, they serve a far more essential purpose and she is not going to give them up without a fight.

Equally grim and picturesque landscapes are done so well in West Yorkshire (the film was made around Huddersfield). The film’s stylings in general could be described, like Anna, as looking like it hasn’t made too much of an effort, yet it certainly has a special something. It all has a certain dressed-down appeal and the universal themes speak for themselves. If this is an indication of the direction of future works from writer-director Rachel Tunnard then she could be one to watch.

Adult Life Skills has well-judged comedy, its aesthetic is unfussy and its emotions raw to the point of discomfort. Everyone has their own coping mechanisms when they lose someone and it can be difficult to keep track of how quickly life passes you by as you grieve. Who’s to say giving your thumbs voices doesn’t work for some people? Sooner or later, though, acceptance comes and painful memories can become joyful and sustaining ones.

20/24

Announced by British actors Ophelia Lovibond and Douglas Booth at the London EDITION this morning (1st Nov), this year’s BIFA list includes an impressive 6 nominations for Adult Life Skills, American Honey, Notes on Blindness and Under the Shadow, and has selected 32 different films from 130 submissions amongst its 16 categories.

It was previously announced that Naomie Harris would be the recipient of The Variety Award, which recognises an actor, director, producer or writer for bringing a global spotlight onto UK film. The Richard Harris award, which recognises outstanding contributions to British film and boasts the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis and Emma Thompson amongst its recipients, will be announced later this month.

The full list of nominees are:

Best British Independent Film
AMERICAN HONEY: Andrea Arnold, Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy, Pouya Shahbazian, Alice Weinberg, Thomas Benski, Lucas Ochoa
COUPLE IN A HOLE: Tom Geens, Zorana Piggott
I, DANIEL BLAKE: Ken Loach, Paul Laverty, Rebecca O’Brien
NOTES ON BLINDNESS: Peter Middleton, James Spinney, Mike Brett, Jo-Jo Ellison, Steve Jamison, Alex Usborne
UNDER THE SHADOW: Babak Anvari, Emily Leo, Oliver Roskill, Lucan Toh

Best International Independent Film
HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE: Taika Waititi, Carthew Neal, Matt Noonan, Leanne Saunders
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA: Kenneth Lonergan, Kimberly Steward, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck, Kevin J. Walsh
MOONLIGHT: Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner
MUSTANG: Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Alice Winocour, Charles Gillibert
TONI ERDMANN: Maren Ade, Janine Jackowski, Jonas Dornbach, Michel Merkt

Best Director
ANDREA ARNOLD: American Honey
BABAK ANVARI: Under the Shadow
BEN WHEATLEY: Free Fire
KEN LOACH: I, Daniel Blake
PETER MIDDLETON, JAMES SPINNEY: Notes on Blindness

Best Screenplay
ANDREA ARNOLD: American Honey
BABAK ANVARI: Under the Shadow
BILLY O’BRIEN, CHRISTOPHER HYDE: I Am Not a Serial Killer
PAUL LAVERTY: I, Daniel Blake
RACHEL TUNNARD: Adult Life Skills

Best Actress
HAYLEY SQUIRES: I, Daniel Blake
JODIE WHITTAKER: Adult Life Skills
KATE DICKIE: Couple in a Hole
NARGES RASHIDI: Under the Shadow
SASHA LANE: American Honey

Best Actor
DAVE JOHNS: I, Daniel Blake
MAX RECORDS: I Am Not a Serial Killer
MICHAEL FASSBENDER: Trespass Against Us
SHIA LABEOUF: American Honey
STEVE BRANDON: My Feral Heart

Best Supporting Actress
AVIN MANSHADI: Under the Shadow
GEMMA ARTERTON: The Girl With All the Gifts
NAOMIE HARRIS: Our Kind of Traitor
SHANA SWASH: My Feral Heart
TERRY PHETO: A United Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor
ARINZÉ KENE: The Pass
BRETT GOLDSTEIN: Adult Life Skills
CHRISTOPHER LLOYD: I Am Not a Serial Killer
JAMIE DORNAN: Anthropoid
SEAN HARRIS: Trespass Against Us

Best Documentary
THE CONFESSION: LIVING THE WAR ON TERROR: Ashish Ghadiali, James Rogan
DANCER: Steven Cantor, Gabrielle Tana
THE HARD STOP: George Amponsah, Dionne Walker
NOTES ON BLINDNESS: Peter Middleton, James Spinney, Mike Brett, Jo-Jo Ellison, Steve Jamison, Alex Usborne
VERSUS: THE LIFE AND FILMS OF KEN LOACH: Louise Osmond, Rebecca O’Brien

Outstanding Achievement in Craft
JOAKIM SUNDSTRÖM: Sound – Notes on Blindness
PAUL MONAGHAN, MAT WHITECROSS: Editing – Supersonic
ROBBIE RYAN: Cinematography – American Honey
SEB BARKER: Visual Effects – The Girl With All the Gifts
SHAHEEN BAIG: Casting – Free Fire

The Douglas Hickox Award (Debut Director)
ADAM SMITH: Trespass Against Us
ALICE LOWE: Prevenge
BABAK ANVARI: Under the Shadow
PETER MIDDLETON, JAMES SPINNEY: Notes on Blindness
RACHEL TUNNARD: Adult Life Skills

Debut Screenwriter
ED TALFAN: The Passing (Yr Ymadawiad)
HOPE DICKSON LEACH: The Levelling
JOHN CAIRNS, MICHAEL McCARTNEY: A Patch of Fog
RACHEL TUNNARD: Adult Life Skills
SIMON FARNABY, JULIAN BARRATT: Mindhorn

Breakthrough Producer
CAMILLE GATIN: The Girl With All the Gifts
DIONNE WALKER: The Hard Stop
MICHAEL BERLINER: Adult Life Skills
MIKE BRETT, JO-JO ELLISON, STEVE JAMISON: Notes on Blindness
PAUL FEGAN: Where You’re Meant to Be

Most Promising Newcomer
DAVE JOHNS: I, Daniel Blake
HAYLEY SQUIRES: I, Daniel Blake
LETITIA WRIGHT: Urban Hymn
SENNIA NANUA: The Girl With All the Gifts
STEVE BRANDON: My Feral Heart

The Discovery Award
BLACK MOUNTAIN POETS: Jamie Adams, Jon Rennie
THE DARKEST UNIVERSE: Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe, Tiani Ghosh, Jo-Jo Ellison
THE GHOUL: Gareth Tunley, Jack Healy Guttmann, Tom Meeten
GOZO: Miranda Bowen, Leo Scott
THE GREASY STRANGLER: Jim Hosking, Toby Harvard, Daniel Noah, Andrew Starke, Ant Timpson, Josh C Waller, Elijah Wood

Best British Short
JACKED: Rene Pannevis, Ashish Ghadiali, Jennifer Eriksson
MOTHER: Leo Leigh, Scott O’Donnell
OVER: Jörn Threlfall, Jeremy Bannister
RATE ME: Fyzal Boulifa, Taina Galis
THE WRONG END OF THE STICK: Terri Matthews, Chris Cornwell, Sam Bank