Lady Bird

 

Lady Bird 2017

• Director: Greta Gerwig
• Based on a book: no
• Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Lois Smith, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Odeya Rush, Jordan Rodriguez, Marielle Scott
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn, Hanna, Atonement
• Laurie Metcalf – The Big Bang Theory, The Norm Show, Third Rock from the Sun, JFK, Desperately Seeking Susan
• Lucas Hedges – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Manchester by the Sea, The Zero Theorem, Moonrise Kingdom, Dan in Real Life
• Timothée Chalamet – Interstellar
• Stephen McKinley Henderson – Fences, Manchester by the Sea
• Why? Curious.
• Seen: 31 January 2021      

       Lady Bird (Ronan) is seventeen years old, hates her Sacramento high school and longs to go to college out east. She has a love-hate relationship with her mother Marion (Metcalf) who struggles working double shifts to keep the family finances going since her husband (Letts) has lost his job.

       Family life mixes with school life, first love, awkward sex, friendship and identity seeking.

       I don’t know what I was expecting but it was more than this. Ronan and Metcalf are terrific, and it’s better and deeper than many in its genre, but it’s still essentially a story about senior year in an American high school with complicated family relationships, and I really don’t much like the genre.

 3* of 5 (Hal liked it and gave it 4 ½*)