Lady Bird 2017

     Christine MacPherson likes to be called Lady Bird instead of Christine.  She is a 17 year old high school senior and she attends Sacramento Catholic high school.  This is not where she wants to be!!  She doesn’t want to live in Sacramento, and she doesn’t want to go to this school!!  Her parents want her to go to UC Davis for college since it’s nearby.  She could also go to Berkeley and her brother graduated from Berkeley.  Lady Bird has a lot of new events in her life this senior year.  She has her first romance and her first love.  She has a part in the school play and she’s really thinking about college.  She thinks her mother doesn’t like her and her dad is kinder but he loses his job.

     I didn’t know anything about this film except it was filmed in Sacramento, directed by Greta Gerwig and starred Saoirse Ronan.  I also knew that it had received a LOT of awards.  Her mother is a psychiatric nurse and I wonder if she forgets some of her training or she doesn’t want to use it at home?  She works double shifts since they need the money so she’s got to be worn out all the time?  She wants Lady Bird to go to a college that’s cheap!!  Lady Bird doesn’t know what she wants except she wants anything her mother doesn’t want!!  I thought Ronan was older than 17 and she was 23.  This is listed as a comedy but I found it to be a drama.  I’m torn 50% liking this film and 50% wondering what all the fuss is about and how did it win all the awards?  3 ½* (I liked this movie)    

   

94 min, Drama directed by Greta Gerwig with Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothee Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Lois Smith, Stephen Henderson, Odeya Rush, Jordan Rodrigues, Marielle Scott, John Karna, Jake McDorman, Bayne Gibby, Laura Marano.

Note:  Imdb 7.5 out of 10, 99% critic 79% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Commonsense Media 2* positive messages, 2* positive role models, 1* violence, 5* sex, 4* language, 1* consumerism, 4* drinking, drugs, smoking, Metacritic 94 out of 100 with 50 critics 7.4 out of 10 with 654 reviews, The Guardian 5* Peter Bradshaw, Plugged In 1.5* out of 5* Bob Hoose, Amazon 3.6* out of 5* with 1092 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Sacramento, South Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Los Angeles, Van Nuys, California and New York City, New York.  Writer Greta Gerwig’s first draft of her script was 350 pages long and this would make a movie nearly six hours long?  Gerwig has said that her behavior was the polar opposite of Lady Bird and she grew up in Sacramento.  She was strait-laced and not at all rebellious!!  In Sacramento, billboards were put up congratulating Gerwig on her awards for this film.  Ronan's acting for this role was inspired by her memories of watching Saved by the Bell of 1989.  I thought this film resembled Saved by the Bell during my viewing??  This film was the highest-grossing film of the production company A24 as of December 2017.

Awards:  Best picture:  Golden Globe, New York Film Critics Circle National Society of Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics; Best Actress for Saoirse Ronan:  Golden Globe, New York Film Critics, Gotham Independent, Chicago Film Critics; Best Supporting for Laura Metcalf: National Society of Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics; Best Screenplay for Greta Gerwig: National Society of Film Critics, Satellite Auteur, Chicago Film Critics.