Film

The Outrun

Name: The Outrun
Genre: Drama
Released: 2024
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Nabil Elouahabi, Izuka Hoyle, Lauren Lyle

Drama
Slow-burning

A 29-year-old woman returns to the Orkney Islands after rehab, confronting the wild landscape of her childhood and the decade of damage she accumulated in London. Saoirse Ronan gives a raw, unglamorous performance in a film that treats addiction and recovery with patient intelligence—no triumph narrative, just the difficult work of being present. For anyone who's watched someone they love fight their way back, or fought their own way.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a recovery story told in fragments, with wind and sea doing much of the talking, and a lead performance that holds back rather than shouts.

Skip it if you want momentum, because this is a slow, interior film that lingers in silences and repeated routines, and its bleakness rarely lifts for long.

What it asks of you: Just under two hours in which your attention drifts between the present and the past, and you have to keep pace with jumps in time without much help from signposting.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Manchester by the Sea2016

A portrait of a man returning to his hometown after tragedy, learning to live with unbearable loss rather than overcome it. The film sits in silence as much as speech, and Casey Affleck's performance—like Ronan's here—refuses easy redemption.

But Deliberately slow and bleak. If you need narrative momentum or a clear emotional arc, this will feel like watching someone stare at the sea for two hours.

Moonlight2016

Three chapters of a man's life, fragmented and lyrical, examining how trauma shapes identity and the possibility of connection despite it. Beautifully shot, structurally daring, and interested in feeling over plot.

But Oblique storytelling that demands patience. Long passages without dialogue. Some viewers find it too impressionistic to engage with emotionally.

The Florida Project2017

Searing portrait of survival on the margins, shot with warmth and visual poetry. Captures both the resilience and the precariousness of people doing their best in impossible circumstances.

But Bleak underneath the sunshine. The ending offers no resolution, and the casual cruelty of poverty is exhausting to sit with.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Outrun

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind2004

Both are interested in how we live with damage rather than fix it. Rona cannot erase her past or her addiction; like the central couple in Eternal Sunshine, she must learn to exist within it.

A science-fiction film about erasing memories of a lost love, but it's really about how trauma and loss shape us fundamentally. It searches for the meaning in suffering rather than the means to escape it—which is the true subject of recovery.

But Deliberately confusing narrative structure that asks you to work alongside it. Some viewers find it precious or too formally playful for its emotional stakes.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind poster

Minari2021

A family chases the American dream in rural Arkansas, but the film is really about displacement, belonging, and what we inherit from our parents. Yuh-Jung Youn gives one of the best supporting performances in recent memory.

But Slower than most audience expectations. The payoff is emotional and thematic rather than plot-driven, which can feel like unresolved sadness to some viewers.

A Ghost Story2017

A meditative film about time, loss, and what remains. Quietly devastating and formally inventive—it stays with you because it asks unanswerable questions rather than pretending to answer them.

But Deliberately strange and slow. The central conceit (ghosts as white sheets) might feel precious rather than moving depending on your tolerance for strangeness.

The Farewell2019

Awkwafina in a rare dramatic role, navigating family obligation, cultural displacement, and grief. Funny and tender without ever sacrificing its emotional complexity or turning anyone into a lesson.

But The tone shifts between comedy and heartbreak in ways that can feel tonal rather than graceful. Some viewers prefer consistency in emotional register.

Leave the World Behind2023

A family road trip becomes an excavation of class anxiety, parental failure, and what binds us when the world goes wrong. Mahershala Ali and Julia Roberts are complicated and human together.

But Bites off a lot thematically and doesn't always chew cleanly. The ambition sometimes outpaces the execution, leaving narrative threads unresolved.

Nomadland2021

Documentary-like in its refusal of sentiment, observing people living on the road after loss. Chloé Zhao's camera finds dignity and community in precarity, and the performances from real people are extraordinary.

But Sparse dialogue and minimal plot. If you need character development or clear stakes, you'll find this frustratingly passive.

First Reformed2018

Paul Schrader's film about faith, despair, and moral responsibility. Ethan Hawke plays a minister wrestling with whether belief means anything in the face of climate breakdown and personal failure.

But Abrasive formal choices and a bleak worldview. The ending is confrontational, and the film seems contemptuous of easy consolation in any form.

Chungking Express1994

Both films use landscape—urban and natural—as a reflection of emotional interior state. Like Rona returning to the Islands to excavate herself, these characters move through space looking for home in all the wrong places.

Wong Kar-wai's neon-soaked film about urban loneliness, displacement, and the small kindnesses that keep us alive. Gorgeously shot, playful, and deeply lonely—it captures how big cities can feel like islands.

But Deliberately mannered and oblique. If you need clarity of plot or conventional narrative resolution, this will feel opaque and frustratingly vague.