Disclaimer: No Audio description was provided to me for this film. I’m a blind film critic. If you would like a different outcome, send an accessible screener.

I first saw H is for Hawk back in November, when it was trying to break into the Oscar race. A lot of those films that are just now sliding into theaters totally missed out on awards. H Is For hawk is just one of them, but Dead Man’s Wire, Pillion, Rosemead, and some others just didn’t hitt a chord. This one comes from Roadside Attractions, in partnership with Lionsgate. the funny thing is, Lionsgate did a solid job getting me the audio description for She rides Shotgun, but in all their shared productions, Roadside seems to be the barrier. From Twinless, to Kiss Of The Spider Woman, and Dust Bunny, I’ve seen three films I liked, but never got description for in my screener. it also seems the audio description for Kiss of the Spider Woman has vanished, as it apparently accompanied none of the digital releases.

Claire Foy anchors this film about a college professor, who is dealing with a recent loss, and bonds with a Hawk. She ends up training the bird, hunting with it, and making her school wonder if everything is OK. It is about beauty but also grief, the simplicity of bonding with nature with underlying tones. Brendan Gleeson and Denise Goff. it is a quiet meditative drama, but those are perfectly fine. the problem, for me, is that Foy’s biggest on screen partner is a bird. It also is a bird that doesn’t talk, like in some fantasy film or a cartoon. So, she’s constantly referencing something I can’t see, and have no point of reference on. The problem with withholding audio description here, is that the rest of the human cast doesn’t offer as much as this Hawk seems to.

When there’s a character I can’t hear or see, it becomes pretty hard to embrace the film. And since I was told audio description would come with the film’s wide theatrical release in January, it never did. I even tried to get the track a second time. Nope. So, i don’t feel bad pointing out that should you not see this with audio description, it is hard to follow. I’m emboldened due to how hard it is to find Kiss Of the Spider Woman’s audio description post-theatrical, so either get your butt out there, or forget it. roadside isn’t making accessibility a priority. I don’t know if theatrical will be the only place. I just know, I tried. I asked. it didn’t happen.

Foy never would have made the race this year anyway. Honestly, of roadside’s films, the aforementioned trio was all more interesting. Twinless was my #2 film of 2025, and Dust Bunny landed in my top films of the year list. I entertain the idea that if I had been given audio description, this might be a fresh review, but sadly, in this time, it isn’t. Perhaps I’ll be able to assess the film later, and change the grade, but for now, I think it is important to point out that despite all evidence to the contrary, inclusivity is not a bad word, it just means the opposite of exclusionary.

The day I write this follows a lackluster set of Oscar nominations for the blind community, where a slate of films, mostly released by Neon, stripped overall enjoyment from the ceremony. In the Picture, Director, actor, actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Casting, Original Screenplay, Animated Feature, Documentary Feature, International Feature, Original Song, Sound, Hair and Makeup, Editing, and all three short categories, there is at least one nominee with no audio description.

And, then, Disney was apparently surprised by the release of Springsteen: Deliver Me From nowhere, onto their own streaming platform, and forgot to include the audio description at launch. Like, these little things, people live this all the time. It isn’t one thing, it is a culture of apathy. The fact is, H Is For Hawk has a very heavy emphasis on a thing that does not speak, has no dialogue, and I wasn’t afforded anything to give me visual context. I stick my neck out for a lot of films without audio description, but here, I don’t think I can.

One day, Claire Foy is likely to join the ranks of Oscar nominees, but sadly, it won’t be for H Is For Hawk.

rotten: 5.9/10