What do you do when you were planning to attend a $5 Tuesday showing of Star Wars: The Last Jedi at Aksarben Cinema and it is sold out?
You go see Lady Bird.
Lady Bird is a quirky, coming-of-age story about a teenage girl named Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan). We learn early on that she has given herself the name “Lady Bird” — because that’s apparently what quirky girls do when they come from the “wrong side of the tracks” in Sacramento circa 2002.
The film follows Lady Bird during her senior year. She attends a Catholic high school (although she isn’t Catholic) because her older brother witnessed a stabbing at the public option. She dreams of attending a college on the East coast, suggesting to her parents that New York has culture that Sacramento lacks.
As we watch Lady Bird try to navigate her life, and search for meaning in her existence, she and her mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf) struggle with their mother/daughter relationship — as Lady Bird struggles to move on, and Marion comes to terms with letting go.
Lady Bird is the directorial debut of actress Greta Gerwig (who also wrote the screenplay). I wasn’t familiar with Greta Gerwig prior to seeing Lady Bird, but she was apparently set to star in the How I Met Your Mother spinoff How I Met Your Dad (which failed to get a series pickup from CBS).
While this is often the type of movie you see aspiring directors cut their teeth on, Gerwig seems skilled with the material. The titular character she has created is odd, misunderstood, but likable — something that can be hit-or-miss in the territory Gerwig explores.
This “anatomy of a scene” illustrates Gerwig’s process:
Believe me, I’ve seen a number of movies like this that drip with pretentiousness...and Lady Bird does a fairly good job not going overboard employing this sub-genre’s tropes.
Lady Bird features a number of funny moments, and the movie had the audience in stitches during a number of scenes.
That’s a testament to the Gerwig’s screenplay and directing acumen. But it’s also a testament to Saoirse Ronan.
The first movie I recall seeing Ronan in was 2015’s Brooklyn, another coming-of-age story about an Irish girl who comes to the United States in the 1950s.
Ronan has range as an actor, and her talents are on full display in Lady Bird. I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to say this performance is straight up Oscar bait, and I’d be stunned if she doesn’t receive a slew of accolades during awards season.
Lady Bird is also about the quiet struggle of the middle class in the 21st century. But the narrative avoids heavy-handedness as her laid-off father struggles to find a job (despite having an MBA from UC Davis) and her mother quietly longs for something more.
This is beautifully illustrated in an understated sequence where Marion consoles her distraught daughter by taking Lady Bird on the pair’s favorite Sunday activity — pretending to be serious home buyers shopping for upscale homes beyond their means.
This sequence illustrates the gentler side of Marion McPherson, something that is often overshadowed by her snarky bite. Or, as one friend describes Lady Bird’s mom: “She’s warm, but she’s also kind of scary.”
One other nice aspect of the film is Lady Bird’s relationship with her father Larry (Tracy Letts) — a character who is perpetually patient with Lady Bird, and serves as a bridge between daughter and mother.
While Lady Bird might not be for everyone, it is a funny and thoughtful little film among a slew of bombastic holiday movies, and definitely worth checking out.
Rated R, Runtime 94 min.
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