In The Outrun, Rona (Little Women’s Saoirse Ronan) finds herself using alcohol as a coping mechanism.  However, she’s also aware that she may be abusing the escape from reality.  Trying her best to occupy herself with passions, relationships and changes in scenery, her inability to control urges to binge drink distances herself from her parents and her selfless boyfriend Daynin (Papa Essiedu), as well as places her in harm’s way.

Rona is Saoirse Ronan’s most challenging role to date and she rises to the occasion.  Despite the familiarity of the character’s flaws, Ronan is exceptional at portraying the contrast between her inebriated enthusiasm and the shameful devastation that follows her.  Just as she did behind the camera on Netflix’s underrated drama The Unforgivable, director Nora Fingscheidt (who co-wrote the screenplay with author Amy Liptrot) continues to channel her unwavering empathy for hurt people to support Rona’s well-rounded arc.  The non-linear nature of The Outrun occasionally pulls the viewer out of the story to recollect our bearings but, luckily, the compromising filmmaking provides clues for viewers to piece Rona’s story together.

Although The Outrun feels as though it’s revisiting well-trodden territory for stories of this ilk (Beautiful Boy, for instance), Fingscheidt’s film is still a very moving character piece.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie