Lady Bird (2017)
One of the hardest things for any film to do is to be human.
True humanity is extremely hard to capture in the pre-planned conversations of
a script or in the often-visionary lens of a director’s camera. Even going to
such lengths as filming the same cast over twelve years (looking at you, Boyhood) does not guarantee that a movie
can be a true slice of life.
Somehow, some way, Greta Gerwig, in her first film in the
director’s chair no less, has made one of the most genuinely human films I have
ever seen. Lady Bird is an organic
piece of cinematic art that doesn’t try to be terribly artistically original or
innovative; it simply tells a human coming-of-age story, and it does it better
than nearly any other film I have seen.
As much as I’d love to claim that there is no one aspect of
the film that helps this, ultimately the film rests on the shoulders of its
cast. Without the amazing performances from Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas
Hedges, and everyone else involved, the human reactions in the screenplay would
not have nearly the authenticity they do. Ronan in particular shines once
again, and at this point in the year I can confidently predict her contention
for an Oscar nomination: she perfectly embodies the spunk and complexity of Lady
Bird’s personality while playing everything subtly enough to retain human
believability. Metcalf plays off Ronan well, and the chemistry between the two
is perfect for their tense mother-daughter relationship. It’s easy to see how both
characters change throughout the film because of their performances.
The organic nature of Lady
Bird is not something I know how to adequately explain in the rest of the
film, simply because I’ve never seen anything like it before. Scenes don’t feel
like they have an agenda to progress the plot; they simply capture snapshots of
what is happening in the characters’ lives. Every moment in the film is a
moment of character development, offering some deep looks into every character’s
psyche. To top it off, Lady Bird is hilarious
in exactly the right way, not working outside of the characterizations it
presents but offering up wry, real-world humor. All this gives the film a unique, natural feel that I
can’t say I’ve had in any film before, and for that reason this is easily one
of the best films I have seen this year.
My recommendation:
Definitely see this. It’s a masterpiece of character work.
My grade: 97/100
Comments
Post a Comment