Lady Bird Is An Instant Classic
LADY BIRD -2017- Dir. Greta Gerwig//Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalet, Tracy Letts, Beanie Feldstein
What the heck is this movie about?
It’s the early 2000s, and Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson is living life in Sacramento, California. She’s got a difficult, strained relationship with her mother (Laurie Metcalf), and that’s all I’ve got to tell you. Just see this movie.
The real question is though, is Lady Bird any good?
Lady Bird, the absolutely spectacular directorial debut from my favorite gal Greta Gerwig, is one of the most perfect slices of cinema you’ll ever find. It’s warm, infinitely sweet, and earnest . It just made me feel, and that’s exactly what a great movie should do. And I’m not saying this is the most original, innovative film ever made, because it’s not. It doesn’t made break any new ground (it mostly treads on familiar tropes) but it’s the films voice which makes it stand out from everything else right now.
Gerwigs seamless transition to director shouldn’t be all that surprising — she wrote both 2012s delightful Frances Ha and 2015s excellent Mistress America, respectively, in which she also both starred in. She’s married to my favorite family fracture man Noah Baumbach, and has been involved in the industry for a decade now, and with Lady Bird, she already feels like a master at the craft. Sometimes I struggle to pinpoint, or get confused on what makes a great director, but I think I’ve finally found my most confident answer here. A great director is one who understands their story, understands their characters, hold a clear, strong vision, and weaves their tale with love, passion, and care. Gerwig, to me, paints the perfect picture of the ultimate director. She really believes in her characters, and cares for them. The story is told delicately, and maintains the same sublime vision throughout — her direction is powerful, and you can hear her voice radiating off the screen. The movie is also so darn successful in practically every department because of Gerwigs excellent writing. Her script is full of honesty, total zingers, and palpable emotion. I’m 17, the same age as Christine in the film, so I’ve been through (most of) the things she’s been through — its writing just really resonated and hit me personally. It felt real. There’s a moment near the end of the film, which I won’t spoil, so fret not, which made totally lose it and tear up. This is a deeply personally tale, filled with deeply personal dialogue.
Another reason why Lady Bird works so darn well is because of its striking, complex performances. The talent on deck here is unreal. The supporting cast is uniformly strong (standouts being the lovable, geeky Lucas Hedges and Timothée Chalet as a pretentious lover of Christines), but its the leads who undeniably steal the show. Laurie Metcalf and Saorise Ronan are, in short, absolutely fantastic. Metcalf brought layers and elements I didn’t expect to her character, and I could really feel her pain as a mother. The relationship between Metcalf and Ronan is beautiful, and watching it unfold over the course of 94 minutes was moving.
And as great as Metcalf is, this is Saorise Ronan’s movie. Her work in Grand Budapest and especially Brooklyn is terrific, and she continues to impress here, delivering her best performance to date. This isn’t really a movie which “showcases” its actors and actresses (movies like Fences and Black Mass do that) — it gives its performers room to breathe, and craft their characters. Ronan makes so many smart decisions as an actress, and doesn’t shy away from really pouring her heart into Christine. She felt real to me. She felt like an honest, frustrating, complex teen, and while it takes a moment to invest in her, she’ll win you over incredibly fast.
I feel like I’m dragging on, so let’s wrap this up. Aside from the classic big 3 (directing, writing, and acting) the film thrives in its other elements as well. Cinematographer Sam Levy brings a certain warmth to its visuals, and while its nothing too stunning, the images on screen are perfectly intimate. Jon Brion, my man from PTAs excellent and criminally underrated Punch Drunk Love, composes a sweet and memorable score. The Lady Bird theme, especially, is really pretty. Does the movie have its problems? It probably does, but I don’t really care.
Lady Bird is a film, and I’m trying to say this as non-pretentiously as possible, about life. It relishes in its smaller seconds, and some of my favorite parts of the film are its quieter moments. A laugh, a look, a reaction, a smile, hit me in specific ways that not a lot of other movies do. Playing the devils advocate here, this movie is traditional, and its plot doesn’t cover new ground, but its voice makes it anything but traditional. It feels fresh, it feels pure, but most of all its got a big, beating heart.
Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird is a 10 out of 10
