Lady Bird

“People go by the names their parents give them, but they don’t believe in God” Greta Gerwig earns her cookie for this film. this is a deeply resonant, emotional, and authentic story that delivers on all fronts. The screenplay was a spectacle, weaving a masterful story while simultaneously developing the characters intricately. Moreover, the characters have a deep nuance to them and the audience easily can understand their emotions and actions. The characters are portrayed like humans with human problems and human emotions. Many films cannot accurately depict the human condition and this does it masterfully in so many instances with so many different characters. The feel of Gerwig’s direction in this film to me reminds me so much of Richard Linklater, drawing that comparison between the two seems very logical to me, in the sense that they project youth in a similar regard: authentic, raw, relatable. Saoirse Ronan is gold in this. her mannerisms, idiosyncrasies, and behavior perfectly allow us in the audience to sympathize, understand, hope, and share in passion and pain. At all times during this film I was interested in her story and in her corner. The deep dive into her relationship with her mother is the obvious focus. With the theme of coming of age, her relationship with her mother really takes focus and controls the attention of the film. In reiteration, this film is truly masterful and deserves credit of the highest order. However, no film is without its faults and this film does have them. The pacing felt slow due to minimal movement in plot, and the ending could be described as unsatisfying or somewhat tangential to what was expected. Nonetheless, this film is a true testament to filmmaking in the modern era and I highly recommend it to all.