Director: Greta Gerwig
Writer: Greta Gerwig (Screenplay)
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothee Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein
Plot: In the early 2000s, an artistically-inclined seventeen year-old comes of age in Sacramento, California.
Tagline – Time to fly
Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Charming & Sweet
Story: Lady Bird starts in 2002 as Christine ‘Lady Bird’ McPherson (Ronan) is in the middle of her college tour with her mother Marion (Metcalf), Lady Bird is in the position where her family can’t afford a big move, but dreams of leaving the West Coast and heading to the East Coast.
With her financial situation getting worse, Lady Bird tries to go out of her way to secretly get into a college with a scholarship, but needs to improve her studies, while starting a relationship with fellow student Danny (Hedges). We follow Lady Bird’s final year at high school before needing to make her choice on college.
Thoughts on Lady Bird
Characters – Lady Bird is our leading lady, as we follow her final year of high school before college, she wants to break away to a big East Coast college, but her family can’t afford to give her this chance. she isn’t the most gifted student either. As the year goes past we see how Lady Bird changes her colours to fit in with different crowds, but she only pushes friends away, while hiding from the stress that trying to get into a college can cause a teenager. Marion is the mother of Lady Bird, she is trying to keep the family together including being considered the bad guy in the eyes of Lady Bird. Larry is her father, he tries to make sure everything seems smooth for Lady Bird, while deep down he is struggling with depression. Danny is the guy Lady Bird starts dating when she is part of the drama class, but his secret will end that love, as he must deal with his own problems. Kyle is the next guy that Lady Bird starts seeing, showing us that she will make mistakes when it comes to her choices.
Performances – Saoirse Ronan is on top form her as she shows why she is one of the hottest young actresses in the business again. She handles each emotion, decision the character makes with ease. Laurie Metcalf is great in the over caring mother role, it was hard to look past her Big Bang Theory role which shares certain similarities. When you look into the next level of the cast we get great performances from everyone in the film.
Story – The story follows one girl who is about to go in her final year of high school before going into college, she needs to find a way to make things work out for herself, facing the idea that her dreams might not come true, well not the path that had dreamed off. She needs to learn that the people in her life are equally as important as herself and she can’t be expecting to have everything revolve around her life. We do get to see the struggle Lady Bird goes through, including being led down paths she wouldn’t for popularity over friendship.
Comedy – The comedy drama being mixed together in this film helps get the emotions our characters are going through during this year, it isn’t a laugh out loud comedy, just one that manages to make people smile, when need be.
Settings – The settings show the small town feeling shows the issues teenagers will be facing when not everything is affordable for the parents and the grades don’t give them the chance to experience everything their potential has to offer them.
Scene of the Movie – Coach picking the play team.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – This is a strange one, but knowing Saoirse Ronan has surpassed teen roles know, because we want to see her take more adult roles.
Final Thoughts – I can see why people are raving over this film, but it does focus too heavily on the America college system and how people’s lives could be affected by this, something not everyone will go through. This is acted well from start to finish, it does show how the system is flawed and how difficult high school can be in this year.
Overall: Deserving of the praise, but strangely not for everyone.
Rating
