Lady Bird

Year: 2017
Director: Greta Gerwig
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothee Chalamet, Lois Smith, Beanie Feldstein, Odeya Rush, Jordan Rodrigues, Marielle Scott


Plot: Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson is a 17 year-old high school senior struggling to achieve her ambition of going to college in the east coast while dealing with boys, other girls and her opinionated mother in Sacramento 2002.


Review: Lady Bird is a coming of age story written and directed by Greta Gerwig, who is an actress in her own right. While her writing is pretty much on point, her direction is not really up to mark. More on that in a bit.

Lady Bird McPherson (birth name Christine), wants to go to college on the east coast and move away from Sacramento, much to the chagrin of her mother Marion, a working class nurse, who cares about her daughter very much but struggles to understand her. It's bad enough Marion has to deal with her recently laid off husband, now she has to deal with Lady Bird, who constantly rebels against her and wanting to do her own thing. Lady Bird herself struggles with her friends at school and getting involved with the wrong type of boys, and seldom considers the impact of her actions on others before doing them.

The life of the American teenager struggling to discover themselves is a popular subject matter in Hollywood, but in Gerwig's hands, it actually feels quite fresh. Her sharp dialogue, which has tremendous dramatic weight but never drifts into melodrama, certainly helps in making Lady Bird stand out. It also helps that Lady Bird is played by talented young actress Saoirse Ronan, who gives the character a fine balance between being sarcastically smart, but not totally unlikable. Laurie Metcalf is superb as Marion, a working class mother who wants what's best for her daughter but finds it difficult thanks to Lady Bird's rebellious nature. Tracy Letts puts in an understated performance as Lady Bird's father, who suffers from depression but continues to be supportive of her. It's a subtle yet heartbreaking performance from him, I wish he got nominated alongside Ronan and Metcalf. Lucas Hedges and Timothee Chalamet also put in some good work as Lady Bird's love interests. Of the two, I personally preferred Hedges.

Now, here's the main problem with the film. Gerwig's direction or perhaps the editing was rather poor. Until the last fifteen minutes of the film, I couldn't find a single scene that lasted more than two minutes. Gerwig and her editor rapidly move from one scene to the next without letting the audience settle into the film comfortably. One minute Lady Bird is arguing with someone, the next minute she's someplace else, and so forth and so forth. There are scenes of her auditioning for a play with other students in her school, and Ronan actually gets to do a little solo singing at one point, but Gerwig ruins it by cutting it off midway! I can't speak for everyone else, but I found this rather annoying.

Nevertheless, Lady Bird is still a solid watch thanks to great performances from Ronan, Metcalf and Letts. Gerwig's direction is shaky, but her writing is superb. (7/10)