lass of her school turned out to be non-issues, and when she got to where or what she wants, she just finds that the grass never gets greener for her once she was on the other side. In fact, she just becomes resented by those she abandons to get there and ultimately ends up longing for the side she left. If anything the movie was saying that those who are rich aren't as unexclusive as those without think, and they are just like everyone else. Just as the main protagonist was rebelling against her life to gain acceptance, so were the kids of the rich in that they are also just seeking acceptance. That doing anything to get your dreams won't lead to satisfaction as life on the other side isn't any better, you just end up hurting others by getting there that way, and in hindsight blinded you from what you already had. I guess the movie had something to say after all. ★★½ - Not dull, nor was it very entertaining.

nteen_ dealt with virtually identical subject matter and that was one of my favourite movies of the year. So I'm just wrong I guess? _Final rating:★½: - Boring/disappointing. Avoid where possible._

so deeply. This mother-daughter relationship is the crux of the story Lady Bird tells. The movie chronicles Lady Bird’s (as Christine insists on being called) last year of high school in Sacramento. She can’t wait to leave, and is hoping to graduate and attend an East Coast liberal arts school. She’s looking for culture, and Sacramento has probably been in her rearview mirror for as long as she’s been alive.

ll a brilliant film that is easy to watch and can somehow make me laugh and cry at the same time. **Score:** _90%_ | **Verdict:** _Excellent_

of, and the awkwardly charming Greta Gerwig has hit a home run with her equally awkwardly charming directorial debut. The film gives an unromantic glimpse into middle class life in 2002, where we meet Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan), her recently laid off and depressed dad (Tracy Letts), and her hardworking, steadfast mom (Laurie Metcalf). The film is perfectly cast, with Ronan and Metcalf being the real standouts (the two are at their best when pushed into blow-up clashes between mother and daughter, an emotional tug of war between a teen impatient to break away from a hometown that’s beneath her and a mother so desperately hanging on that she’s unable to express her love and disappointment). It’s apparent the actors felt emotionally connected to the material while on set, and their performances bring a biting honesty and empathy to the family dynamics of Gerwig’s screenplay. Gerwig has said the film is semi-autobiographical and she writes with an authentic voice, taking great care with her story (a story told with the hindsight of being a grown up). She brings a confident wisdom, an earnest insight, and a fresh voice through a witty and bright script that mirrors her true-to-life, free spirited personality. It’s as if the film exists within its own glowing aura. With Gerwig at the helm, the film has a particular hipster quirkiness written all over it, yet its sunny disposition and sharp humor is abundant with sincerity and avoids falling into the trap of being overly cynical or jaded. The film is so observant that I could totally and wholly relate to our adolescent heroine through a realism that instantly transported me to the past. While I grew up in a different decade, some of the situations seemed like actual pages ripped out of my own high school experience. There are plenty of moments in a teenage girl’s life where the trivial becomes momentous and the momentous becomes devastating, and they are presented here with a poignant and compassionate vibrancy that I’ve rarely seen so accurately captured on film.

dulthood that is at times poignant, at times self-indulgent but unfortunately, for me anyway, pretty disengaging. Her character is selfish and thoughtless - although not unsophisticated. Like many a story of our adolescence, it is fascinating for those it effects but is little more than dreary hormonal stuff for observers. This is the latter, I'm afraid, with plenty of well trodden clichés to make 94 minutes seem quite a lot longer... Not for me, I'm afraid.

I’ve seen of hers and she’s a proficient writer & filmmaker, but her style turns me off somehow. It’s not just the few digs at wise Conservativism, but the overall writing and filmmaking, which failed to draw me into the characters and their experiences. Her style just isn’t my thang, speaking as someone who appreciates compelling coming-of-age flicks, including artistic ones, like “Clueless,” “The Man in the Moon,” “Dead Poets Society,” “Little Darlings,” “The Virgin Suicides,” “Footloose,” “The Way Way Back” and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.” Even spare-change Indies, like “Love Everlasting” and “Colossal Youth,” are all-around superior entertainments. The similar “Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael” had its issues, but it’s a masterpiece compared to this. I’m not saying “Lady Bird” doesn’t have its artistic appeal but, by the last act, I can honestly say I hated it. Odeya Rush as Jenna is one of the few highlights, along with Timothée Chalamet as the cool dude. The film runs 1 hours, 34 minutes, and was shot in Sacramento, areas of SoCal and Manhattan. GRADE: D+

) and Lois Smith. Kathryn Newton is apparently in there, didn't even recognise her! In fact, there wasn't anyone onscreen that I didn't like, so that's always a sign for a movie of quality. Happy that this is indeed an excellent film, one I've seen popping up regularly across Letterboxd in recent years. About time I watched it, just the 2.8 million users on that platform who have done so already...