Paul Giamatti once again proves how underrated an actor he is in Julian Goldberger’s The Hawk is Dying. Based on the 1973 Harry Crews novel, Giamatti is George Gattling, a middle-aged auto-upholsterer who lives with his sister and her mentally-challenged son. George’s only passion in life is catching and training hawks. This passion intensifies when he catches a magnificent red-tailed hawk which he becomes intent on breaking.

The film runs in retrospect, beginning with a climactic scene before returning to George’s earlier, unhappy and almost misanthropic lifestyle. As George moves through these stages, dealing with the death of his nephew and the stoned indifference of Betty (the only girl in his life), he discovers that training this particular bird becomes synonymous with accepting his place in life and finding true meaning.

Goldberger extracts strongly convincing performances from his actors. Giamatti depicts George with a sardonic unhappiness, with the only thing he cares for being his hawks and his nephew. Giamatti’s co-actors perform with similar believability: Betty, the young stoner who is not only George’s occasional lover but his only real emotional outlet; Fred, his nephew, whose raw and innocent experiences of life (and love) provide some of the film’s most moving moments; and even the bird, who seems to understand its owner’s feelings and ’see into his heart’, as George says.

While the film seems to drag early on, the characters are captivating, particularly George with his insistence on carrying the hawk on his arm everywhere. The film’s emotional depth is also heightened by its variety of themes: devotion, parental responsibilities, love and relationships are all explored with stark realism. The camerawork is often handheld’somewhat reminiscent of amateur film-making’but beautiful imagery, performances and an uplifting ending give this film a depth that makes it definitely worth the watch.

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