Greetings again from the darkness. Some losses hit hard. When Helen’s dad dies suddenly and unexpectedly, her downward spiral begins. Writer-director Philippa Lowthorpe and co-writer Emma Donaghue have adapted Helen MacDonald’s 2014 book/memoir for a screen version that moves about as slowly as any movie I’ve ever seen. That’s allowed when depression is taking hold (of Helen, not me).
Claire Foy (THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB, 2018) stars as Helen. She’s a natural science academic at Cambridge and has a close relationship with her photojournalist dad (the always great Brendan Gleeson). His death leads her to training a beautiful goshawk she names Mabel. Helen is patient with the bird and spends an inordinate amount of time with the magnificent creature … so much time, in fact, that it jeopardizes her job, her friendships, her family, and quite frankly, her sanity. But that all makes it sound much more exciting than it plays out on screen
Based on Helen’s true story, the time period is 2007, yet we believe this emotional crash could happen to most anyone at any time. Her distraction (which she claims Mabel isn’t) is a bit more worrisome than some, and as her mom (Lindsay Duncan), brother James (Josh Dylan), and best friend Christina (Denise Gough) fret over how best to help her, it turns out time and delivering her dad’s eulogy are even more effective than training the hawk. As odd as it seems, this may be a textbook “finding yourself” story and film.
Opening in theaters on January 23, 2026
Movie Reviews from the Dark 
Excellent reviews as always. H is for Hawk is one of those films that I was not planning to see but I may give it a shot now. I do like movies exploring themes of grief. I also am a huge fan of Claire Foy and adore her work as an actress. The concept for this film reminds me a lot of the film “All of Us Strangers”. Released in 2023, Andrew Haigh’s movie offered a similar story of grief involving death of parents. Incidentally, that film also starred Claire Foy. So, I will definitely be sure to check this out. It sounds like a meaningful film I would enjoy.
Here’s my personal thoughts on All of Us Strangers:
I had forgotten she was in ALL OF US STRANGERS, which is odd since she is usually quite memorable in her role. I especially liked her in WOMEN TALKING (2022)