Lady Bird

We've grown reluctant in recent years to see highly touted films set in contemporary times because many of them are filled with snark, simplistic themes, predictable plot twists, and cartoon characters.   Lady Bird is not one of those movies, treating its characters, their lives, and their beliefs with respect, and keeping us interested throughout with what will happen to 17 year old Christine, who has renamed herself Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan, who's as wonderful in this as she was in Brooklyn) and her mother (Laurie Metcalf).   The movie garnered well deserved nominations for Best Picture, best actress (Ronan), and best supporting actress (Metcalf).

The interplay between mother and daughter is so well done; complex, funny, heartbreaking, and changing throughout except for their underlying love of each other, though that love is something they have trouble expressing at times.  This felt like real people interacting rather than characters created so the director and write can make a point.

It's a serious film but one with some laugh out loud moments at unexpected times.

Lady Bird is the first directing and screenwriting effort by Greta Gerwig, the star of innumerable indie films in recent years that haven't interested me in the least.  It's a very impressive debut.

Here's one example of her fine writing.  The setup is that Lady Bird is attending a Catholic girls school in Sacramento, a city that she says she is desperate to leave.  She played a nasty prank on headmistress Sister Sarah Joan and is surprised when the Sister tells her she found the prank funny.  They continue on:

Sister Sarah Joan: I read your college essay.  You clearly love Sacramento.

Lady Bird: I do?

Joan: Well, you write about Sacramento so affectionately and with such care.

Lady Bird: I was just describing it.

Joan: It comes across as love.

Lady Bird: Sure, I guess I pay attention.

Joan: Don't you think maybe they are the same thing?  Love and attention?