Lady Bird

_Lady Bird_ is a fantastic coming of age story that is a lot deeper than its contemporaries in the genre. It deals with more than just boys and self-discovery, but familiar past, the complex relationships between parents, and the deep understanding that home is comfort no matter how terrible it may seem in the moment. It is all crafted so well that the experience is instantly relatable allowing many viewers to resonate with her. Despite this movie being a tad overhyped by many critics, it is still a brilliant film that is easy to watch and can somehow make me laugh and cry at the same time. **Score:** _90%_ | **Verdict:** _Excellent_

Garden variety coming of age films are so prevalent that it’s all the more refreshing when something truly personal and original like “Lady Bird” comes along. The small scale intimacy of the story about a teenage girl on the cusp of womanhood in Sacramento feels raw and real, its cozy focus creating a universal anecdote that relives (with bittersweet affection) a part of life that’s filled with constantly fluctuating highs and lows. This is exactly the type of indie filmmaking that we need more of, and the awkwardly charming Greta Gerwig has hit a home run with her equally awkwardly charming directorial debut. The film gives an unromantic glimpse into middle class life in 2002, where we meet Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan), her recently laid off and depressed dad (Tracy Letts), and her hardworking, steadfast mom (Laurie Metcalf). The film is perfectly cast, with Ronan and Metcalf being the real standouts (the two are at their best when pushed into blow-up clashes between mother and daughter, an emotional tug of war between a teen impatient to break away from a hometown that’s beneath her and a mother so desperately hanging on that she’s unable to express her love and disappointment). It’s apparent the actors felt emotionally connected to the material while on set, and their performances bring a biting honesty and empathy to the family dynamics of Gerwig’s screenplay. Gerwig has said the film is semi-autobiographical and she writes with an authentic voice, taking great care with her story (a story told with the hindsight of being a grown up). She brings a confident wisdom, an earnest insight, and a fresh voice through a witty and bright script that mirrors her true-to-life, free spirited personality. It’s as if the film exists within its own glowing aura. With Gerwig at the helm, the film has a particular hipster quirkiness written all over it, yet its sunny disposition and sharp humor is abundant with sincerity and avoids falling into the trap of being overly cynical or jaded. The film is so observant that I could totally and wholly relate to our adolescent heroine through a realism that instantly transported me to the past. While I grew up in a different decade, some of the situations seemed like actual pages ripped out of my own high school experience. There are plenty of moments in a teenage girl’s life where the trivial becomes momentous and the momentous becomes devastating, and they are presented here with a poignant and compassionate vibrancy that I’ve rarely seen so accurately captured on film.

Saoirse Ronan is "Christine McPherson" (aka "LadyBird"). In the final year of her high school life, she has to deal with all of the conflicting influences as her adulthood - and future - looms. She has a strong relationship with her father; a more torrid one with her mother - and generally resents what she perceives to be her family's rather hand-to-mouth existence in Sacramento. It's a tale of her emotional development, her boyfriends (Lucas Hedges and Timothée Chalamet) and of her journey to adulthood that is at times poignant, at times self-indulgent but unfortunately, for me anyway, pretty disengaging. Her character is selfish and thoughtless - although not unsophisticated. Like many a story of our adolescence, it is fascinating for those it effects but is little more than dreary hormonal stuff for observers. This is the latter, I'm afraid, with plenty of well trodden clichés to make 94 minutes seem quite a lot longer... Not for me, I'm afraid.

**_Saoirse Ronan coming-of-age at a Catholic school in Sacramento_** During her senior year in 2002-2003, a girl from “the wrong side of the tracks” (Saoirse) takes on the struggles of a challenging mother, friendships, romance and a school play, as well as the pursuit of “culture” and a college education in the East. "Lady Bird" (2017) was somewhat based on the writer/director’s experiences growing up in Sacramento. She went on to fame with her 2023 hit “Barbie.” This is the first movie I’ve seen of hers and she’s a proficient writer & filmmaker, but her style turns me off somehow. It’s not just the few digs at wise Conservativism, but the overall writing and filmmaking, which failed to draw me into the characters and their experiences. Her style just isn’t my thang, speaking as someone who appreciates compelling coming-of-age flicks, including artistic ones, like “Clueless,” “The Man in the Moon,” “Dead Poets Society,” “Little Darlings,” “The Virgin Suicides,” “Footloose,” “The Way Way Back” and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” Even spare-change Indies, like “Everlasting Love” and “Colossal Youth,” are all-around superior entertainments. The similar “Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael” had its issues, but it’s a masterpiece compared to this. I’m not saying “Lady Bird” doesn’t have its artistic appeal but, by the last act, I can honestly say I hated it. Odeya Rush as Jenna is one of the few highlights, along with Timothée Chalamet as the cool dude. The film runs 1 hours, 34 minutes, and was shot in Sacramento, areas of SoCal and Manhattan. GRADE: D+

Lives up to the billing. 'Lady Bird' is great viewing. The teen drama bits are solidly portrayed, though it is the family stuff that I think really powers the film to upper echelons. Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf are terrific, Ronan obviously most so but Metcalf merits praise too; particularly at the end. Tracy Letts is a positive as well. Other good cast members include Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson (his branch of the plot kinda vanishes, mind) and Lois Smith. Kathryn Newton is apparently in there, didn't even recognise her! In fact, there wasn't anyone onscreen that I didn't like, so that's always a sign for a movie of quality. Happy that this is indeed an excellent film, one I've seen popping up regularly across Letterboxd in recent years. About time I watched it, just the 2.8 million users on that platform who have done so already...