Lady Bird
Director: Greta Gerwig
Year Released: 2017
Rating: 3.0
"Artistically-inclined" high school senior Christine (Saoirse Ronan) - who prefers to be called "Lady Bird" (after LBJ's wife?) - lives in Sacramento, California, but dreams of studying with "similar minds" on the East Coast (preferably NYC), which irritates her rather intense and protective mother (Laurie Metcalf), while financially-strapped Pop (Tracy Letts) plays Good Cop. Considering Gerwig's own background, it's easy to spot a very clear autobiographical element to this ... and while it contains the familiar teen movie components - dating a theatre kid (Lucas Hedges), finding out he's gay, dating a punk rocker (Timothée Chalamet), finding out he's a jerk (and a tad cuckoo), ditching your oldest friend (Beanie Feldstein) for the 'cool girl' (Odeya Rush) and then reconnecting with the old friend, having random fights with Mom, etc. - it is done with so much care and compassion and has so many well-observed moments, it can't help but feel truly genuine, and naturally there's Ms. Ronan herself, beaming radiantly, in awe of the possibilities in the world. I'm so glad I'm not the only one that's cried to Dave Matthews Band's "Crash Into Me" ... it was the time, ya know?
