Cinema Prescription

Synopsis: Christine “Lady Bird” MacPherson is a high school senior from the “wrong side of the tracks.” She longs for adventure, sophistication, and opportunity, but finds none of that in her Sacramento Catholic high school. LADY BIRD follows the title character’s senior year in high school, including her first romance, her participation in the school play, and most importantly, her applying for college
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Lois Smith
Screenplay: Greta Gerwig
Directed by: Greta Gerwig

Greta Gerwig’s LADY BIRD is a sharply-written, endearing and painfully honest look on womanhood and embracing adolescence. Featuring incredible performances by its ensemble cast, led by the exquisite Saoirse Ronan as quirky, outspoken high school senior who calls herself Lady Bird; and the equally divine Laurie Metcalf as her overbearing but loving mother, Marion.

LADY BIRD offers a lot of things but its heart lays in the love/hate relationship between Lady Bird and her mother (+ her hometown, Sacramento). Their relationship was complicated; agressive at times and tender in another. Both of them are equally confused when it comes to expressing their affections and living up to each others’ expectations. Their complex connection really made both of them genuinely real, living and breathing characters.

Gerwig’s brilliant script also deals about, friendship and relationship drama, financial turmoil, sexual experiments, and many many tiny details that might be overlooked upon first viewing, like; cynicism, depression, war & terrorism (it’s set just a year after 9/11), middle class life; just to name a few. Some of these tiny observations might be dealt abruptly but I think it’s another testament of how layered her writing is.

Juggling through the pressure of family and school life, the first loves and the heartbreaks, and the uncertainty of what’s to come, LADY BIRD successfully encapsulates the main character’s ups and downs through her last year of high school–when we’re sure of ourselves and what we want in life yet clueless at the same time. We feel what she feels, and we learn what she’s learned. LADY BIRD is a beautiful self-discovery journey, and Greta Gerwig made us lucky enough to witness it. [A]

A copy of my review on Instagram.