As we are in the middle of the end of the year movie season, we are not only offered big films with top name stars, but also small independent films with not so large names in them. I suspect this would be the best case scenario assuming these films capture the interest Hollywood hopes to gain. Some have been pluses and some minuses--given this small film, "Lady Bird" is a plus...mostly.
This coming-of-age film set in 2002 Sacramento, California, centers on Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan), an eccentric teenager who prefers to go by the name "Lady Bird". Over the course of her senior year of high school, Lady Bird deals with the pangs of her first love, Danny O'Neill (Lucas Hedges) and clashes with her mother, Marion (Laurie Metcalf) over her plans for her future. During this year, Lady Bird realizes she is as strong-willed as her mother with frustrates both and all the while Marion is attempting to keep the family together especially after her husband, Larry (Tracy Letts) loses his job. Will mother and daughter survive each while trying to save what's left of their own lives?
Others to round out the cast are Timothee Chalamet as Kyle Scheible, Beanie Feldstein as Julie Steffens, Lady Bird's best friend, Lois Smith as Sister Sarah Joan, Odeya Rush as Jenna Walton, Jake McDorman as Mr. Bruno, Jordan Rodriguez as Miguel McPherson, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Father Leviatch and Andy Buckley as Matt.
This was deftly directed by actor, Greta Gerwig ("Nights and Weekends" '08). Although this wasn't the best film directed out there, considering she has only one other film directed to her credit, this was paced and staged amazingly well. I haven't seen some seasoned directors that have been as subtle with the emotions this filmmaker was able to extract from her actors as Gerwig has. She will direct more. This was also written by Gerwig ("Hannah Takes the Stairs" '07, "Nights and Weekends" '08, "Northern Comfort" '10, "Frances Ha" '12, "Mistress America" '15) plus others and TV, loosely based on her own life. As with Noah Baumbach, I'm not as much frustrated with her writing as much as the subjects she chooses and she has a tendency to just drop the audience come the ending. This is truly a frequent approach of the independent film which is permissible, however prevalent. As I've mentioned on many reviews, comedy is my favorite genre, but most comedies either are designed as a frat fall film replete with toilet humor, four-letter words with references of drugs and sex, or they are extremely powder dry in humor whereas it becomes difficult to differentiate where the comedy ends and the drama begins. "Lady Bird" definitely falls with the latter description. Most websites claim this is a comedy, whereas it feels more like a drama with comedic overtones, and if this is what Gerwig was striving to convey then she succeeded in spades. This was well written and directed and this ensemble cast was talented, but it would be enjoyable to see a comedy that is funny that is dead center of the two aforementioned descriptions of comedy. Frankly, my favorite type of comedy is a satirical one, such as "Thank You for Smoking" '05.
Greta Gerwig definitely will continue to carve out talented work, however it would be great if she could find that level of comedy that has a bit more bite to it without compromising her integrity in order to create an artfully crafted film.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: R 94mins.
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