Lady Bird
Directed by: Greta Gerwig
Written by: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Jordan Rodrigues, Beanie Feldstein, Odeya Rush, Marielle Scott, Stephen McKinley Henderson
Comedy - 93 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 8 Nov 2017
Written by: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Jordan Rodrigues, Beanie Feldstein, Odeya Rush, Marielle Scott, Stephen McKinley Henderson
Comedy - 93 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 8 Nov 2017
Trying to ‘find’ yourself and determine who you are as a person comes with a lot of warts. In high school, it is not uncommon to go jock one week, goth the next, and then settle for some combination of all of them. Lady Bird works through these phases in front of us and she’s a tough character to root for at times. She believes she knows a few certainties: she will escape Sacramento for a liberal arts college on the East Coast and her mundane surroundings and family stifle her creativity. She comes off as abnormally pretentious to those around her, but most of that can be forgiven. Raise your hand if you weren’t a gargantuan pretentious asshole in high school every now and again. I shouldn’t see too many hands up there. The challenge in appreciating Greta Gerwig’s first solo feature film directorial effort is I don’t want to spend very much time around Lady Bird. She verbally spars all day with her classmates and parents, aches that nobody understands her, and all of this may be a case of this guy being too far removed to empathize with the adolescent female.
Gerwig’s script and portrayal of Frances Ha remains one of my favorite films of the decade. One doesn’t have to read between the lines too hard to propose Frances may even be Lady Bird a decade later. They’re both from Sacramento, escape east, and dive head-first into the urban culture they are sure they belong in. However, Lady Bird is more like Violet, Gerwig’s insufferable character in Damsels in Distress; most likely a far more accurate comparison of what Lady Bird will act like in college. These details regarding Sacramento and New York City are quite close to Gerwig’s real life; however, she assures all interviewers Lady Bird is not based on her and none of the events in the film ever happened, but they’re emotionally true. Of course.
Gerwig’s script and portrayal of Frances Ha remains one of my favorite films of the decade. One doesn’t have to read between the lines too hard to propose Frances may even be Lady Bird a decade later. They’re both from Sacramento, escape east, and dive head-first into the urban culture they are sure they belong in. However, Lady Bird is more like Violet, Gerwig’s insufferable character in Damsels in Distress; most likely a far more accurate comparison of what Lady Bird will act like in college. These details regarding Sacramento and New York City are quite close to Gerwig’s real life; however, she assures all interviewers Lady Bird is not based on her and none of the events in the film ever happened, but they’re emotionally true. Of course.
Step back from the teenaged angst and Lady Bird is about what home means to people. You do not understand your home and your family while you’re growing up and living there; you’re too close to it. It is only when you leave, be it to a far away college or off toward your first career that you finally ‘get’ it. You will discover whether or not your home truly was a warm and happy environment or a stunted halfway house of emotions. Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan) still has another year of high school to navigate though. There are school plays, prom, college applications, and her topsy-turvy, sometimes virulent, relationship with her mother, Marion (Laurie Metcalf).
Like any mother, we see Marion as both fair and tough. We observe fair early enough because Marion calls her daughter ‘Lady Bird’, even though her real name is Christine; Lady Bird is the name Christine “gave herself, for herself.” If my son told me to call him Lord Bird I would politely decline, but three cheers for Marion for playing along. Before you go signing up for Team Mom though, Marion can also be world-class passive aggressive. She picks as many fights with Lady Bird as the other way around. When annoyed, every mom knows how best to needle under her daughter’s skin and Marion is a pro at recognizing the precise scabs to pick at which times. Apparently, this is standard mother/daughter business and perhaps another reason I feel so far removed from latching onto Lady Bird.
I’ve heard quite a few people rave about Ronan’s performance as her best ever in such a career-defining role. No, that role was named Eilis and the movie was called Brooklyn (2015). Eilis was only one or two years older than Lady Bird but Ronan played her as a much wiser soul. Lady Bird is quirky and irreverent, the personality characteristics you expect from a Gerwig project, but nothing on display here eclipses Brooklyn and most other Gerwig scripts. Don’t get me wrong, Ronan is more than convincing when she has boy troubles, whether it is learning her first love isn’t what he appears to be or losing her virginity, a moment people imagine countless times, does not come close to meeting expectations.
Perhaps Lady Bird’s greatest strength is Ronan is not in every scene. Lady Bird has gaps in her understanding of the world around her. Mom and dad have their moments exposing motivations Lady Bird knows nothing about. The film expands beyond its limited character view to encompass all of Lady Bird’s Sacramento circle. It’s not just about a girl, but a place, and what will certainly connect more with its intended mother/daughter audience, a woman’s story told from a woman’s point of view. Lady Bird has it fair share of identifiable Gerwig witticisms and barbs, but as a coming-of-age combination of comedy and empathy, its universal message will appeal to anyone who was an adolescent girl at one point with a somewhat combustible relationship with her mother. For the rest of us, maybe this will help you understand your sister.
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