Movies about alcoholics are usually about people on the other side of the life hill, very sad, looking for a way back from the brink of destruction. Even the better ones are awash in sadness and depression, as cleaning yourself up means you have to confront the vile person you had become. The Outrun doesn’t reinvent the wheel there, but Saoirse Ronan’s presence makes this endeavor feel at least less like a slog than many of these character drama Oscar Bait performances can be, proving hopefully, a little gold statue will be in her future someday.
Ronan loses the ending “n” and plays Rona, an alcoholic. After the boozy haze fueled fallout from her life in London with her boyfriend Daynin (Paapa Essiedu), Rona tries to pick up the pieces in her home: the Orkney Islands north of Scotland. Mom (Sasika Reeves) and dad (Stephen Dillane) try their best, but they are also dealing with lives of their own that make it hard to help their adult daughter through her struggles in the way she needs them to. Having a zeal for biology Rona moves further and further north in the island chain, eventually landing at Papa Westray to help do biological research up there while she figures out what her life will be like as a sober person.
The Outrun is best capturing that first 5ish months after you decide enough is enough, and try to stop drinking. Writer Amy Liptrot and director Nora Fingscheidt find potent collaboration based on real life (this is essentially Liptrot’s autobiography). Their big new spin to these stories is “the urge,” which hits very hard and comes out of nowhere, overwhelming the former alcohol drinker. It’s these moments that are the hardest to overcome if you’re not in a controlled space, and poor Rona does what the title suggests most of the time and tries to outrun them. Those urges get even more insurmountable for the poor girl because, like many alcoholics, she has no real support system. Mom has converted into a deep religious believer, which atheist Rona mixes with like oil and water, as mom’s solutions seem stupid to her. Dad she connects with better, but he’s got bipolar disorder, which he struggles with almost as much as she does her alcoholism. And she’s torched all her other friendships from past destructive behavior while drunk. So alone, on these big, windy, desolate islands, Rona is forced to confront herself alone, head on, and deal with the hard day to day living of one day at a time without the drink, with Instagram reminding her what she’s missing in London with her friends, and her memories of happier times as her old self tormenting her as she tries to forge a new life and purpose.
And while much of The Outrun is bleak and despondent, the brightness of Saoirse Ronan keeps the movie just on the right side of hopeful. Ronan really dives into how hard it must be to live day to day, during those early months right after you stop drinking. Everyone says it’s a constant struggle with ups and downs, but Ronan really makes you feel that struggle moment to moment. Those big, searing eyes long staring the audience to feel everything she does when the urge hits, and there’s nothing she can do but just try to ride it out and hope she doesn’t have anything to drink during one. Moments that could be ripe for overacting Ronan nails, like this quietly heartbreaking scene where she’s convinced she’ll never be happy sober. But as we get into Papa Westray island life, and days turn to weeks, which turn into months, even with setbacks, Ronan sells us on the struggle getting less hard, as one local puts it. That quiet life alone out in nowhere land gives Ronan the chance to confront Rona’s past, and find that path forward for her future, as a new person. That deep sadness starts to show smiles more, with happiness coming into her life more frequently as she gets excited about new experiences she didn’t have before, but now unsullied by booze. There’s no “cure” Ronan attempts to convey by the end of The Outrun, but you do feel she’s ready to keep fighting the day to day fight to make a better life for herself, a testament to the actress’s commitment to the character she’s playing.
So maybe, alcoholics, take some time off in the Orkney Islands? If you like giant desolate places with creepy seals and nice sweet locals, maybe this is your place to get away from it all and try to reset? I mean, if Saoirse Ronan can do it, why can’t you? Ok, maybe that’s a bad comparison, but I’m rooting for you nonetheless.