Jackdaw

About Jackdaw

Jackdaw is a 2023 British action thriller film starring Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Jenna Coleman, Thomas Turgoose, and Rory McCann. It was written and directed by Jamie Childs, in his feature film debut. The film premiered at Fantastic Fest on 22 September 2023, and was released in the United Kingdom on 26 January 2024.

Website: https://www.vertigoreleasing.com/movie/jackdaw

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Synopsis

Set in Hartlepool in the North-East of England, over the course of a single night. The film follows a former motocross champion and army veteran who has fallen on hard times (Jackson-Cohen). He accepts a job to collect a package in the North Sea but this decision could have big ramifications for his family.

Cast

Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Jack

Jenna Coleman as Bo

Thomas Turgoose as Craig

Rory McCann as Armstrong

Allan Mustafa

Vivienne Acheampong

Joe Blakemore as Silas

Leon Harrop as Simon

Austin Haynes

Production

The film was produced by Anton's CEO Sebastien Raybaud alongside Callum Grant, Kate Glover and writer-director Jamie Childs. William Baldy is cinematographer.

Filming

Principal photography took place on location in Hartlepool in February 2023. Director Jamie Childs grew up in County Durham and has discussed his desire to showcase the north-east area in his filmmaking. Filming locations also include Tees Valley, around Seal Sands, Nunthorpe, Redcar and the North Sea.

Release

The world premiere of Jackdaw took place at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas in September 2023. The film held its UK premiere at Showcase Cinema de Lux in Stockton-on-Tees on 24 January 2024. It was released in cinemas in the United Kingdom on 26 January 2024.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 71% of 17 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10.

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Notable quotes

“The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again.”
— Charles William Beebe, The Bird: Its Form and Function (1906).
“Better one byrde in hand than ten in the wood.”
— John Heywood, Proverbs (1546), pt. 1, ch. 11
“I was always a lover of soft-winged things.”
— Victor Hugo, I Was Always a Lover.
“The francolin's voice is the glory of the fields.”
— Sumerian proverb, Collection II at , .
““What is that?” I gasped, nearly blinded by the unexpected vermillion patches on the blackbird’s epaulets. I watched as the bird threw back its head, opened wide its beak and let out a sound so primal it left me marvelling: this was as close as I’d ever stand to dinosaurs. If this bird had been here all along, I thought, what else had I been missing?”
— Julia Zarankin, Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder (2020), , p. 23
“From nesting, brooding and sex, to metabolism, development and even the diseases that afflicted them, many of the traits found in birds today were inherited from the dinosaurs. The boundary between dinosaurs and birds has become utterly blurred.”
— John Pickrell (2014), Flying Dinosaurs: How Fearsome Reptiles Became Birds, Columbia University Press, p. xvii

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.