Lady Bird (2017)
Cast includes: Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn), Laurie Metcalf (Scream 2),Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name), Odeya Rush (The Giver), Lucas Hedges (Moonrise Kingdom), Tracy Letts (The Big Short)
Writer/Director: Greta Gerwig (Mistress America (actress), Frances Ha (actress))
Genre: Drama | Comedy (94 minutes)
“Do you think I look like I’m from Sacramento?” It’s 2002, and Christine… “Call me ‘Lady Bird’” … can’t wait to fly away. “I wish I could live through something.” (What ever that means!) Lady Bird’s mother, Marion, struggles to make sense of her daughter and the things she says. Today, they’re visiting a college, but California colleges are not on Lady Bird’s wish list… “I hate California.” “In-state tuition,” Marion replies. So much of Marion’s life and viewpoint is shaped by money… or rather the money they don’t have. “I want to go where the culture is.” To be honest, Christine’s appetite for elite schools isn’t matched by her commitment to elite quality scholarship. At school, Lady Bird campaigns for class president… “Don’t worry, I won’t win.” Her adviser encourages her to try out for the fall musical because she has a “flair for performance.” But Lady Bird thinks math is her ticket to getting into an elite east coast school. “Math isn’t your strong suit,” says Sister Sarah Joan. “That we know of… yet,” says Lady Bird. (It’s hard not to find Lady Bird amusing, even though she can be infuriating.)
Anyway, Lady Bird and her best friend both get parts in the school musical. That’s where she notices Danny and the lovely but stuck-up Jenna Walton… “Her skin is luminous.” Danny seems like quite a catch for a prom date, but he comes from a prominent Irish Catholic family… “It’s hard to find a girl to date that isn’t my cousin.” It isn’t easy for Lady Bird to market her “wrong side of the tracks” background. In fact it can be a deal killer with some of her new friends. Turning her back on her old friends doesn’t work out well either. Maybe if Lady Bird can get into one of those east coast schools, none of this will matter. “Financial aid,” Marion reminds her… like a broken record. Why does her mother hate her so?
It’s really hard for Lady Bird to fly away when everyone in her life wants to clip her wings. As coming-of-age stories go, Lady Bird is far more endearing and amusing than most. If you’re familiar with the acting work of Greta Gerwig, the writer and director of this film, you’ll recognize her offbeat but relevant take on reconciling the distance between dreams and reality. One senses that Christine has always been a bit of a handful, but in her senior year of high school when she renamed herself “Lady Bird,” everything comes off the rails. Lady Bird hardly knows where to turn in her desperate pursuit of the meaningful life she’s always wanted… her parents and old friends just want to hold her back. Lady Bird will just have to work through all her crazy ideas before she’ll realize that those closest to her are the ones who really love her. “Sorry, I wanted more,” says Marion when Lady Bird pushes back. Lady Bird seems to be burning up all her relationships, but her relationship with her mother is the most volatile and ultimately the most enduring.
4 popped kernels
Renaming herself “Lady Bird,” Christine wants to escape her boring life in boring Sacramento, California
Popcorn Profile
Rated: R (Language, Sexual Content)
Audience: Young Adults, Grown-ups
Gender Style: Sensitive
Distribution: Mainstream Limited Release
Mood: Neutral
Tempo: Cruises Comfortably
Visual Style: Unvarnished Realism
Nutshell: Coming of age
Language: True to life
Social Significance: Thought Provoking
