Yardbird

There are elements of Carrie in this effective Australian short film.

Set in the remote outback of the lawless kind, Ruby is the yardbird of the title who is confined to her dad's auto scrapyard looking after the menagerie of animals and making sure the cars are compacted.

However a bleeding nose signifies some abilities of a kinetic kind and her father constant shouting of 'you cannot fix everything.'

When she sneaks into town in her father's pickup truck she comes across a trio of youth torturing a cat and does something about it. A car suddenly moves allowing her to rescue the cat and before long the injured cat is well again. The youths on the hand decide to take revenge.

This short film is wonderfully shot, good use of locations and tells it eerie tale with great economy.

A very rustic, lonely atmosphere is created in this film, which is quite lyrical. Excellent "rustic", brown-tinted photography. The soundscape and music are very well done. The acting is very good, appropriate to the setting of some squalor and isolation. All characters are very vivid and engaging. The story is a common fairytale of the downfall of "evil" before the vengeance of "justice". The main characters, the girl and her father were very sympathetic and the "villains" were suitably nasty and clueless. The ending was interesting and unexpected (by me !) accompanied by a haunting song. I found it an excellent entertainment. It reminded me a little of one of my favourite films, "Let the Right One In".

An auto scrapyard. A girl ,her father , a German shepherd. The interdiction of man for his daughter to leave the yard. Ignored, off course, by. A tortured cat by few bulyies is saved by girl. And their desire of revenge, with terrible consequence for one of them.

After the end the film, emblematic, for obvious motives, remains the heap of compacted cars. And the two deaths. And the look of the bleeding nose.

Auster storztelling, inspired acting, earth colors and fair portrait of cruelty of bullies. And, sure, many, so easy comparations with simmilar characters as Ruby.

But the virtue of film is to propose a personal story. About poverty, survive, secrets, self protection, love of animals and isolation by world. Not the last, the admirable work of young Mitzi Ruhlmann.