'Paper Plane' Review: A Quietly Moving Directorial Debut from Saoirse Ronan
By Becca Johnson - October 27, 2026
Saoirse Ronan has established herself as one of the finest actresses working today, delivering memorable performances across a career that has earned her widespread critical acclaim. Now, she steps behind the camera for the first time with Paper Plane, a 15-minute short film that sees her take on writing and directing duties. Starring newcomer Martha Malone and Clare Dunne (Herself), the film centres on a defiant young girl who refuses to return home until her father's disruptive presence is gone, leaving her mother facing a difficult decision.
Paper Plane is an intimate story about family and the complicated bond between mother and daughter, marking an exciting new chapter in Ronan's career.
With a short runtime and very little dialogue, Paper Plane manages to pack an emotional punch without spelling everything out for its audience. Ronan puts plenty of trust in viewers, resisting the temptation to cram its 15 minutes with backstory and unnecessary details. Instead, she allows us to sit with the story, make our own judgements and piece together what might have happened to make the young girl refuse to return home. Much of the communication between mother and daughter takes place through paper planes, a lovely touch of symbolism that says plenty without the need for many words. It's refreshing to see a director give her audience room to think, and Ronan already seems to have a good grasp of how to make that approach work.
On a technical level, Paper Plane also achieves plenty. Despite the lack of dialogue, the film is never truly silent, with the sounds of wind, insects and the surrounding environment adding to the sense of immersion. The decision to shoot on film gives it a raw, authentic quality, whilst the intimate framing places us right alongside the family. The performances from young Malone and the more seasoned Dunne work beautifully together, with their faces conveying emotions that words might otherwise struggle to capture. There's a lovely moment of levity when the pair dance together in the front garden, which feels so natural that their complicated bond comes across as entirely real. It's a genuine slice of life, capturing the small, fleeting moments that can reveal so much about a family.
It seems harsh to criticise a short film for being just that, but some stories deserve further development and Paper Plane is perhaps one of them. This isn't a criticism of its ambiguity, but rather a sense that Ronan has more she wants to say than the 15-minute runtime allows. Several important themes are hinted at that could benefit from a more thorough exploration, leaving you wishing the film had a little more room to breathe. The ending is perhaps the clearest example of this, and is likely to divide audiences. The silence may be an intentional choice, but for a scene with such emotional weight, it doesn't quite have the impact it could.
As a directorial debut, Paper Plane is a promising start for Saoirse Ronan, demonstrating a clear understanding of how to tell a story through subtlety rather than exposition. She shows both confidence and restraint behind the camera, allowing scenes to breathe and giving the audience space to sit with the characters rather than rushing to explain everything. While there are still moments that could benefit from further development, the film's emotional sincerity and naturalistic approach suggest Ronan has a distinct voice of her own. If this is anything to go by, her future work could have plenty of emotional weight, making her next move behind the camera one to look forward to.
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Becca Johnson
Senior Writer
Becca is a cinema obsessed Rotten Tomato-approved freelance critic from Essex, UK, with a penchant for horror and coming-of-age.
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