Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2024: Franz Rogowski in Bird

Franz Rogowski did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying the titular character of Bird.

Bird follows a young girl Kayley (Nykiya Adams) as she navigates the tough world around her extended family and her poverty stricken neighborhood. 

Someone who stands among the narrative is the strange man who appears and nearly looks like a Bird wandering around played by Franz Rogowski. Rogowski being a German actor who has been making a bit of a name for himself in even international independent fair, and an actor who has a bit of that Masayuki Mori quality, where he always more or less looks the same there isn’t some extreme changes in his accent yet he comes off very differently from performance to performance. Something that comes into play here is the titular Bird, a man who Kayley happens to see wandering around a random field near her neighborhood. Rogowski’s whole performance in a way should easily not work at all as it would’ve been so not at all difficult to make the character cloying, over the top or just not believable in any way given the conceit of the man called Bird who also acts a bit like a bird. Well Rogowski manages to achieve that very peculiar presence in that his movements, particularly the way he cocks his head and stands, and walks with a particular gait, all are more like a Bird than a man. It is to the immense credit of Rogowski's ability as a performer, and his knowledge of tone and style here, that he manages to go just far enough. You do fully see him as this bird-like man in those movements which are distinct and consistent. But Rogowski goes just far enough without going too far in that he never seems cartoonish or some ridiculous concept of a man either. Rather you fully accept Rogowski Bird mannerisms and all as Bird, and it is a case where those mannerisms amplify the overall presence rather than ever detract from them as some contrived idea. The idea in conception could’ve even been contrived but Rogowski successfully makes it feel very honest. A part of this is the performance within the mannerisms is part of that but also contrasts heavily. Rogowski is wholly this character in both qualities, but in terms of his verbal and facial expressions, Rogowski is very low key and absolutely earnest. There is the right sense of a timidness within the man, but also importantly, as much as Bird appears to be neurodivergent to say the least, Rogowski’s approach to it is one that creates a natural sympathy. As much as he presents himself differently, his eyes are very much of a very real man, as his is such a sweet way of speaking and asking for help to find his family in this area. There’s an innocence in Rogowski but an innocence that feels earned in his gentle manner. Rogowski finds just the right way not to push too hard or too little within the naivety or at least mental space of someone likely on the spectrum. When Bird mentions his family there’s emotional need there, different from how an average person might convey it, just as most wouldn’t dance around in a field as Bird does, but Rogowski makes it all work. 

From this you get a very unique friendship between Bird and Kayley, where there is such an easy warmth about it at times such as when Bird assures her that she’s not ugly. A line that theoretically in the wrong hands could either be creepy or overly sentimental, but Rogowski’s idiosyncratic way of speaking it as just a factual statement in the specific manner of Bird makes the moment absolutely sing. The same is true when she goes to see her mother and extended family, which isn’t the most splendid of settings, the way Rogowski is exploring the space in a completely off-beat way, while also glancing around almost like it is a magical land, which it is not, could again be something that could seem too much, yet Rogowski again marks just the right balance to be convincing within the state of Bird’s mind. Rogowski’s work you see a man in own perception but not completely detached. Something we see when Rogowski’s expression changes a little, says a lot, as you see him honing in on the less savory elements, particularly Kayley’s mom’s new uncouth boyfriend, and tells him he could wear some clothes. Rogowski’s great because there’s no intentional insult exactly, rather just blunt advice from a man who just speaks as he sees them which can be cutting though he doesn’t necessarily intend it to be so. Eventually Kayley does help Bird find his dad, who denies Bird as his son at first, though later acquiesces though in mostly a distant way. Rogowski’s great in the scene because he both does and doesn’t play the emotions within the scene. Bird still is hard to read but within it, and after words you do see Bird processing them. He’s very moving in presenting the heartbreak very much in the Bird way, where you need to find the sadness more overtly but it is there, and just feels right for the character. I especially love the moment where Kayley twists his arm to prove that “he exists”, which is probably the most direct emotion of the pain in the moment, which Rogowski beautifully realizes in Bird’s largely internalized yet still very poignant way of expressing within the specific language of Bird. Even when Rogowski’s performance takes a little bit of backseat in the ending of his character, where shifts into overt magical realism involving his character, Rogowski still manages to make his own impact around and beyond the effects. His final moment in particular, which is entirely silent work, but the subtle changes Rogowski brings in his eyes that shows graciousness and love in Bird towards Kaylee, in his Bird specific way is the final moving note for the character. The entire performance is an impressive work because on the page Bird could’ve been in bad taste, ridiculous or any combination of things with the wrong performance behind it. Rogowski is exactly the right performance though, finding honesty within the off-beat and finding character in what in the wrong hands could have been caricature, even possibly offensive caricature.