Lady Bird

Around this time of year the cinema's are packed with award winning films. Most of them come riding on a wave of extreme hype and sadly most of them don't live up to that hype. Every now and then though one of them does and it's down to fantastic work from 3 women operating at the top of their game. 

Lady Bird is a bored, selfish 17 year girl who wants to be anywhere but here. Here is Sacramento in 2002. A cultural wasteland, 'The midwest of California.' She longs to move as far away from her hometown as possible. College is on the horizon but Lady Bird isn't exactly a model student. And then there's the issue of her relationship with her mother...

I loved this. It's the kind of film you go into not knowing what to expect and within minutes you're hooked. Director Greta Gerwig has created a painfully real little story about people and their struggles to find their way in the world that will resonate with everyone, man or woman. It's evocative as hell and will conjure up memories you thought you had long forgotten. Mostly cringy bad ones you want to forget but still. It captures that restless teenage feeling perfectly. Speaking your mind without thinking. Constantly being out to impress others even when it's to your own detriment. Wanting to get out and do your own thing. The way you think the world revolves around you. The selfishness of teenage years. Lady Bird isn't exactly selfish, just like most young people she can't see past their own little bubble. This extends to her relationship with her parents as well. They love each other but that love can turn into a blazing row at the drop of a hat when thoughtlessness moments intrude. The film reminded me of Kenneth Lonergan's films actually in the way you get the emotions the characters are experiencing shoved in your face and you feel it all along with them.

Saoirse Ronan is superb in the title role. Despite her flaws you'll never not like her character and the fact that she's funny as hell is the gravy on top. Her first action on turning 18 is brilliant. And even when you want to shake her you'll still be rooting for her. Laurie Metcalfe as her mam Marion is sublime. She's one of those actors we've been watching and enjoying on TV for so long that you'll instantly empathise with her even when she's been a nitpicking asshole. She's just disappears into her role. Both women are nominated for Oscars but if I were a betting man I'd put my money on Metcalfe. They play off each other so well though. You'll be hard pressed to find a more genuine feeling parent child relationship in a recent film. Timothée Chalamet as Kyle is great as that asshole we all knew in school. A hypocritical fool prone to existential musing and cool guy ramblings who's main purpose in life is to get the ride. Tracy Letts as Lady Bird's father Larry is perfect as a man being dealt a crappy hand at life. His quiet scenes with his daughter are as powerful as the louder, more dramatic scenes she has with her mam. There isn't a bad performance in this tbh, Lucas Hedges, Beanie Feldstein, Lois Smith, they all hit the spot.

The only thing I didn't like about this was the soundtrack, more specifically the obviousness of some of the songs on it. Some of them were pretty on the nose but then I realised I was being petty and that this was exactly the stuff teens 16 years ago listened to. Like the story the soundtrack perfectly evokes a those teenage years and tastes.

This is a pretty much perfect little film. It really hit the spot for me. It's short and very sweet and as far from your usual big important Oscar films as it's possible to be. I never got the love for Greta Gerwig as an actress as she always (to me) came across as affected and a bit too quirky but her work here is great. She's created a little world full of characters who you'll keep thinking of when the film is long over. Characters you'll be hoping find their way in the world and do well for themselves.

Highly recommended.