This year’s Sundance Film Festival was the place to watch films about mental health, grief, and family troubles. Renowned documentary filmmaker Dylan Southern returned to the festival to present all three in his latest film, The Thing with Feathers
. The feature is adapted from Max Porter’s 2015 novel, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, which follows a grief-stricken father after the death of his wife. Left to take care of his two boys after their family tragedy, Benedict Cumberbatch’s character must work diligently to be the caretaker his sons need.

Cumberbatch, who is simply “Dad,” surprisingly stumbles upon his wife’s lifeless body one day. Gutted at the thought of living this life without her, he must inform his sons (Richard and Henry Boxall) and help them cope with this significant loss. As the family of three attempts to grieve the death of their loved one, Dad attempts to take solace in his work by completing his latest graphic novel. In doing so, he begins to neglect his young sons, the two people who need him the most.

The Thing With Feathers’ Exploration Of Grief In Horror Doesn’t Always Work

Even in these early sequences, it’s clear that fatherhood without his partner begins to overwhelm the father. Even simple tasks like preparing breakfast or finding clean clothes for the boys to wear seem overwhelming. With these added complications on top of his grief, Dad begins to lose his hold on reality in a way that enables Southern to get creative with his storytelling. Slowly but surely, a black crow begins to find his way inside the house as a symbol of things to come.

One of the first introductions to the crow is after one of the boys awakens from a nightmare to find a black feather on his pillow. Spiritually speaking, feathers are a sign that angels, spirits, or other enтιтies will come to offer comfort to those who need it. Throughout The Thing with Feathers, Southern gets creative with this concept as the crow (played by Eric Lampaert and voiced by David Thewlis), once a normal size, reemerges as a full, human-sized figure to whip Dad back into shape for him to properly care for his children.

Southern’s creative style and direction to manifest grief onscreen interconnects with the horror genre, it’s just not entirely effective. Crow often shows up accompanied by gradually tense music that puts us on heightened alert. Yet, I’m not entirely certain it needed to be a horror film. Rather, the experience of watching The Thing with Feathers is like a reflection and manifestation of what happens when grief overwhelms to the point of not being treated. In this family’s case, it leads to neglect, physical and mental struggles, and other disruptions readying themselves to take over.

Broken up into three chapters — Dad, Crow, and Boys — we see various perspectives on grief. Where one party strongly attempts to wallow in it (Dad), almost as if he’s being swallowed by grief entirely, the other participants (Boys) fully embrace it with the help of Crow. They partake in activities that remind them of their mother as a way to celebrate and remember how much she meant to them. Through this approach, Southern showcases just how important exploring different avenues of acceptance is to a family. He pushes this further by demonstrating the dire consequences of neglecting it altogether.

Though you can extract all this information from the final product, it’s not entirely accurate to say that it was executed well. To be fair, The Thing with Feathers sits at a reasonable runtime of 98 minutes but manages to feel excruciatingly long. Likely due to its chapter setup and added horror elements, some moments don’t really stick. For example, it’s difficult to determine if Crow is haunting this family or just a manifestation of Dad’s emotional pain. Either choice is fine, but Southern has no interest in giving us concrete answers. Consequently, it’s difficult to connect to the story.

Benedict Cumberbatch’s Performance Strengthens The Horror Film

However, there is one major thing going for this film. Cumberbatch puts on an impressively good performance to the point that you almost forget the film’s hazy storytelling. Practically, Cumberbatch had one thing to accomplish onscreen, but he takes this role and stretches it beyond its thin origins. At least the boys are given more to do outside their grief, which gives us something else to direct our attention towards.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Southern’s heart was in the right place with his adaptation. Grief, after all, looks very different to many people, so he wanted to bring creative elements to his storytelling. The good news about The Thing with Feathers is that there is enough there to drive intrigue. And while the horror aspects of the film are the weakest, it makes sense because of what the writer-director attempted to accomplish. With certainty, Cumberbatch put his all into this role. So, if for nothing else, it’s worth it to see him.

The Thing with Feathers premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.