Headline News
Dune Part Two: Will Three Be a Crowd? (March 20, 2024 10:09 am)
Dave’s Top 10 of 2023! (March 2, 2024 8:37 am)
Anatomy Of A Fall: Compelling Courtroom Drama (February 20, 2024 11:20 pm)
Poor Things: “Rich” in Many Ways (January 25, 2024 5:30 am)

Lady Bird: A Film That Takes Flight!

November 25, 2017
Comments off
858 Views

Finally, we’ve officially entered “Terrific Movie Season” (TMS)!  My favorite movie of 2017 (so far) is the recently-released “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” but almost as wonderful is the comedy/drama “Lady Bird,” written and directed by the very talented Greta Gerwig.  (Plus, the movie is rumored to be partly auto-biographical.)  This film is a MUST SEE!  In addition to the intelligent and humorous screenplay, the film is anchored by AAW performances by Saoirse (unbelievably pronounced Sur-Sha) Ronan as Christine – a.k.a. “Lady Bird” McPherson – and Laurie Metcalf, who plays Lady Bird’s mother, Marion.  Ronan is especially amazing, but I think this is McDormand’s year.

The film takes place in 2002.  Christine is a Senior at a Sacramento Catholic high school.  She has given herself the name “Lady Bird,” so she considers this to be her given name.  She wants to escape her circumscribed life in Sacramento and go to an East Coast college, but her mother is strongly opposed to this desire.  Marion wants Lady Bird to go to a cheaper state school, such as UC Davis.  Her mother sites economics, but Lady Bird could easily get college loans, so there are obviously other reasons for her mother’s objection.  Marion loves Lady Bird, but she is critical, demanding, and passive-aggressive.  They get “into it” frequently, and these scenes are fabulous.  (There are few movies with such an interesting mother-daughter relationship.)  This volatile family situation, however, is tempered by her father, Larry (Tracy Letts).

Lady Bird negotiates the typical high school senior issues, such as exploring her emerging sexuality and fluid high school friendships, but what makes it really special is that all the scenes “ring true.”  It’s a great high school movie, ranking right up there with “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and last year’s “The Edge of Seventeen.”  Gerwig also gets excellent performances from Beanie Feldstein as Lady Bird’s best friend, Julie, and two male romantic interests (Lucas Hedges as Danny O’Neill and Timothee Chalamett as Kyle Sheible).

The bottom line is that “Lady Bird” soars!

 

Finally, we've officially entered "Terrific Movie Season" (TMS)!  My favorite movie of 2017 (so far) is the recently-released "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," but almost as wonderful is the comedy/drama "Lady Bird," written and directed by the very talented Greta Gerwig.  (Plus, the movie is rumored to be partly auto-biographical.)  This film is a MUST SEE!  In addition to the intelligent and humorous screenplay, the film is anchored by AAW performances by Saoirse (unbelievably pronounced Sur-Sha) Ronan as Christine – a.k.a. "Lady Bird" McPherson – and Laurie Metcalf, who plays Lady Bird's mother, Marion.  Ronan is especially amazing, but I think this is McDormand's year. The film takes place in 2002.  Christine is a Senior at a Sacramento Catholic high school.  She has given herself the name "Lady Bird," so she considers this to be her given name.  She wants to escape her circumscribed life in Sacramento and go to an East Coast college, but her mother is strongly opposed to this desire.  Marion wants Lady Bird to go to a cheaper state school, such as UC Davis.  Her mother sites economics, but Lady Bird could easily get college loans, so there are obviously other reasons for her mother's objection.  Marion loves Lady Bird, but she is critical, demanding, and passive-aggressive.  They get "into it" frequently, and these scenes are fabulous.  (There are few movies with such an interesting mother-daughter relationship.)  This volatile family situation, however, is tempered by her father, Larry (Tracy Letts). Lady Bird negotiates the typical high school senior issues, such as exploring her emerging sexuality and fluid high school friendships, but what makes it really special is that all the scenes "ring true."  It's a great high school movie, ranking right up there with "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and last year's "The Edge of Seventeen."  Gerwig also gets excellent performances from Beanie Feldstein as Lady Bird's best friend, Julie, and two male romantic interests (Lucas Hedges as Danny O'Neill and Timothee Chalamett as Kyle Sheible). The bottom line is that "Lady Bird" soars!  

8.5

Knock-Out Writer/Directorial Debut by Gerwig!

Superb Performance By Saoirse Ronan!
User Rating : No Ratings Yet !
9

I have loved the movies ever since I saw “The Wizard of Oz” as a young boy. When Beatle-mania hit the USA, Rock-N-Roll was my greatest passion, but I haven’t enjoyed the current music scene nearly as much over the past 15 years, so that void has been filled by film. In college and med school, I would see movies with my friends and we would stay up late into the night chatting about them. I still love seeing movies with friends and then having dinner to discuss them. This blog evolved out of my desire to tell my movie-loving friends about movies I thought they would enjoy. The blog allows me to do this in a fun way and to reach movie fans everywhere.

Comments are closed.