Movie Review: 'Lady Bird'

Even adults living under the same roof with teenagers don’t always know what the latter are saying, thinking, doing and what, if any, their plans for their futures might be. After graduation, the complexities of high school are soon forgotten. It is time to begin a career, get married and start a family; the new focus of ones existence. Mom, Marion (Laurie Metcalf) and dad, Larry (Tracy Letts) are two such adults in the midst of balancing careers and raising two challenging teenagers. Their son, Miguel (Jordan Rodriguez) is somewhat focused; it is their daughter Christine/“Lady Bird” (Saoirse Ronan) that keeps things in the family stirred up.

“Is Lady Bird your given name?” Christine is asked. “Yes,” she replies, “it is my given name, I gave it to myself –   it is given to me by me.” Uh-oh, with that posture, she’s headed down a bumpy road in life and the farther she travels down that road the bumpier it gets. Her senior year at a Catholic high school in Sacramento is the road and the bumps come at her from all sides. Losing her virginity, applying to colleges, passing a driving test, turning 18 and buying cigarettes are only some of the challenges she must face.

She must also interact with her family, friends and teachers. They are all part of her life, but she still feels the need to develop independently from them, to spread her wings and fly –   at least away from Sacramento. Her hope is to be accepted by an out-of-state college while knowing that will create more problems at home. Mom would be grief stricken; dad is her willing accomplice.

While the story reads like an article in Family Circle, Gerwig’s interpretation of such stories make this film so inspiring. Lady Bird’s relationship with Marion is particularly fascinating. Because of her special way of seeing the world and her place in it, Lady Bird is constantly testing and being tested. When told by a school advisor that math isn’t something she’s very strong in, she replies, “Not that we know of yet.”

Greta Gerwig has taken a coming-of-age story and turned it into a coming-around story. The interaction of the characters is both amusing and at times sad. Everyone in the film cares for one another, but in very individual ways that don’t always interconnect well. Eventually the characters come around to a better understanding of the many differences in one another and accept these individualities, ideas and viewpoints. “Yes, Christine is my given name,” she replies to her college counselor.

Directed and written by Greta Gerwig, this movie runs 94 minutes and is a “should see” production.

johan@beachcomber.news