Penguin Bloom | 2020 | NR | – 3.4.3

Why is “Penguin Bloom” rated NR? The MPAA has not rated this film. The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few kissing scenes, an accident replayed with severe injuries and some blood shown, risky behavior, a woman struggling to manage life after a severe injury, an injured bird, a bird attacked and injured by other birds, nightmares of drowning, a few arguments, and some strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Based on a true story: After a near fatal accident, a woman (Naomi Watts) is left to fight with adjusting to her new and very different life, while learning lessons of endurance from a wounded Magpie that her family nurses back to health. Also with Andrew Lincoln, Griffin Murray-Johnston, Felix Cameron, Abe Clifford-Barr, Jacki Weaver, Lisa Hensley, Leeanna Walsman, Gia Carides, Randolph Fields and Rachel House. Directed by Glendyn Ivin. [Running Time: 1:35]

Penguin Bloom SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A husband undresses his wife to bathe her and we see her bare back shoulders and partial buttocks. A woman wears swimsuits that reveal cleavage, bare abdomen and partial buttocks in several scenes. Boys and a man wear swim trunks that reveal their bare chests, abdomens and backs in several scenes. A nude toddler is shown from the back (bare back, buttocks and legs are shown).
► A husband and his wife hug and kiss in several scenes.
► A boy talks about his parents meeting on the beach and they were together ever since. A man talks about Magpies mating for life. Boys tease a bird and insinuate that it has fallen in love with a stuffed toy; they sing “K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

Penguin Bloom VIOLENCE/GORE 4

 – A woman sits on a railing on a rooftop and the railing breaks away causing her to fall off the roof; we see this scene a few times with varying levels of detail and in one scene we see the woman lying on the ground below with a pool of blood forming under her head and later being taken away in an ambulance.
► We hear that a woman broke her back at the sixth thoracic vertebrae (T6) and that she cannot feel anything below her shoulder blades; we see her in a wheelchair and needing help to move herself in and out of bed and into the wheelchair in several scenes. A woman has an uncontrollable tremor that makes her whole body shake.
► A woman has a scar on her back from surgery. A photo of a woman’s back shows a surgical scar and a tube in her back.
► A woman, unable to get herself out of her wheelchair and onto the bed falls on the floor where her young son helps her get a pillow under her to lie on the floor. Young boys jump off a rooftop and land on a trampoline bouncing unharmed in a few scenes. Young boys play on a rooftop in several scenes. A woman paddles on a surfboard in the ocean and surfs in waves a few times. Two boys skateboard over a ramp in a house and crash into something (off-screen); we do not see any injuries and their father reprimands them. A woman has nightmares of falling into the ocean and drowning in several scenes. Several people carry a woman on a stretcher and chair up a path where she can see the ocean and a lighthouse.
► A husband and his wife argue in a few scenes about her condition and coping. A woman tells a kayak instructor that she will not tip the boat over after she is instructed to do so; she eventually does and swims to the surface unharmed. A woman argues with her adult daughter and son-in-law about the daughter taking chances and causing her mother worry. A woman and her young son argue about the boy feeling responsible for the accident that injured his mother. A boy’s voice-over talks about his mother being stolen from them after an accident and that he feels responsible for it. A woman cries over the loss of her ability to do the things that she used to do in several scenes and becomes angry, frustrated and depressed. A woman says, “I’m nothing.” A bird screeches and a woman yells at it to be quiet. A woman asks her sister, “Are you cross with me?” A boy asks, “Has mom gone crazy?” A woman yells at a bird and we see it perched on a railing outside. A boy says, “I wish it was me” [that was injured in an accident]. A boy asks if his father thinks a bird is dead.
► A bird is attacked by other birds that pin it to the ground and peck at it while humans scream for them to stop (we see blood on the bird), and the wounded bird flies away. A lizard leers at an injured bird hiding in rocks under a tree until it scurries away when a boy approaches the bird. A boy takes a wounded bird home and tries to nurse it back to health by making it a basket and giving it food made of insects and worms and water from a dropper; the bird squawks loudly in several scenes. People search for a missing bird in the rain and dark and are unable to find it.
► A woman throws something at a wall covered with framed photographs, the glass and frame breaks and she shatters other photos with a broom handle (we see glass and images strewn on the floor). A woman accidentally drops a tray of food on the floor. A woman purposely pushes a jar of honey off a counter and it shatters and spills the honey. A woman closes curtains in a room and sits in the dark until another woman arrives to help her.
► A bird steps on a remote control that drives a car on the floor, startling a woman that is looking for the bird. A bird hops around a house spilling things and knocking fragile items off a shelf breaking them; it is briefly covered by a pair of underwear and it pecks at a stuffed toy. A bird is stuck in a bin of honey and squawks until a woman takes it out and washes it clean as it pecks at her hand briefly.
► Boys call for their father in the night after eating oysters and we see them vomiting violently in the bathroom (we hear retching and see goo on the floor and on the toilet) and one boy says, “It smells like oysters,” as the man tries to clean it up. A bird defecates on a boy’s arm (we see goo). A boy asks, “Did she just poo on you?” A boy bounces on a trampoline, flatulating with each bounce. A woman puts her feet into a basin where there are many small fish that nibble at her feet and she recoils laughing.

Penguin Bloom LANGUAGE 3

 – 4 scatological terms, 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (annoying, cheater, chicken, bugger, lovers, crazy, spastic, silly question, drunk and emotional, selfish), exclamations (shut-up, inside voices, bloody, ooo, jeez), 2 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God). | profanity glossary |

Penguin Bloom SUBSTANCE USE

 – Women talk about drinking wine with lunch, and people drink wine with a meal.

Penguin Bloom DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Accidents, family, Magpies, depression, physical impairment, coping, fear, what ifs, responsibility, facing fears, helplessness, worry.

Penguin Bloom MESSAGE

 – Drastic life changes can be unsettling, but eventually manageable with help and love.