Penguin Bloom

Penguin Bloom is a drama about Sam Bloom, a woman living in Australia with her husband Cameron and their three sons. After a fall from a balcony in Thailand leaves her paralysed, she returns home and struggles to adjust as her family tries to care for her and keep going. An injured baby magpie, taken in and named Penguin, becomes part of the household and gradually changes the family's daily life.

The film was directed by Glendyn Ivin, his second feature after Beaconsfield, from a screenplay by Harry Cripps and Shaun Grant. Naomi Watts, who also produced, plays Sam, with Andrew Lincoln as Cameron, Jacki Weaver as Jan and Griffin Murray-Johnston, Felix Cameron and Abe Clifford-Barr as the couple's sons. It runs 95 minutes and was released in January 2021.

Ratings place the film in moderate territory: it holds a 6.8 out of 10 on IMDb from over 13,700 votes and a 6.9 out of 10 on TMDB from 345 votes, while a critics' rating of 6.1 out of 10 from 86 reviews sits a little below the audience scores. The relatively small gap suggests a film that drew a similar, if not enthusiastic, response from both groups, with viewers rating it somewhat more warmly than critics.