LADY BIRD Quick Cut Review

Yup.

Greta Gerwig's directorial debut feature Lady Bird, a nuanced, subtle examination of the awkward fog between adolescence and adulthood, is also uproariously funny and full of effervescent life. The rhythms of high school and the decisions you make that will shape your life are both heartbreaking and hopeful, and 'Lady Bird' tells its tale with unnatural confidence and personality. Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf give acting clinics in the two main roles, Lady Bird McPherson herself and her mother Marion. They are raw, realistic, and should both win Oscars. Tracy Letts plays the family patriarch, and isn't getting nearly enough kudos for being the soft heart of the movie, a proud, decent man struggling with the weight of raising a blue-collar family. Every beat of this movie rings true, and feels like a personal statement from Gerwig. It goes to show you don't have to manufacture outlandish situations for your characters when life is dramatic, and funny, enough - a mistake many of the films in this genre make. Lady Bird is one of the best coming-of-age movies ever made, and is, I believe, the front-runner for Best Picture this year.