In Retrospect: Lady Bird

I get it more now on the second go.

Lady Bird is a movie about life, identity, and acceptance. It's a very good movie and that while I feel came just a touch late in my life, in some respects it still holds great truth at this point of my life. And I think this movie could be seen 100 years from now and still hit people close to home. I understood the greater emotion to it all and that's what the movie's drive is, emotion. The character's while still thinking, logical beings are guided and driven by emotion. Christine wants to be recognized as an individual, Lady Bird, and yet falls into following others and not doing what she wants to do until the end. It made me think an awful lot about my teenage years and honestly this movie wasn't that far off, I was emotional, I was trying to figure stuff out, I was not appreciative of certain people and things but I got better at life and not taking things for what they are. The movie is an important movie, and one that should be seen regardless of age or other factors in life. The ending kind of puzzled me the first time seeing it in the theater, she wanted to go to New York, she got there, achieved what she wanted and I thought the credits would start rolling not long after she walked out of the subway station. So why keep going until she calls her mom and then end? It's like in The Graduate how the ending keeps going after a point where every other movie would stop. Well, realizing more of the emotions and motivation for Christine on further viewing made the ending makes sense, she accepts the person she is and not the person she wants to be, she is Christine and not Lady Bird. She accepts it, but still remains who she is almost as if Christine and Lady Bird were synonymous. Now that may seem odd, it's the same person so why act like they are different yet the same? Names are really the most arbitrary thing to a human being besides, well....the human being. She realized regardless of whether her name is Christine or Lady Bird, she is who she is so there was no reason for Lady Bird to still be her name. It's a clever and meaningful ending to her character. I for one am happy to see this movie again and will no doubt give more insight in future viewings.

Lady Bird

You know, for the highest rated and all around best reviewed movie on Rotten Tomatoes.....it was good.

Now don't get me wrong, Lady Bird is a very endearing, very well made, and just plain nice movie, I very much enjoyed the film and thought it was a very faithful and interesting movie that still rings true to late teenage years for most people. I mean the movie can be summed up in about two sentences. Lady Bird is your everyday, ordinary girl mainly living her life. She goes to a catholic high school, makes friends, finds romance, deals with her family, and all around is trying to progress through life. Bam. Easy plot, but so well done. Like, this movie legitamately feels like the life of a teenage girl like she was a real person. Saoirse Ronan is excellent in this movie, and I actually do look forward to seeing more from her in the future, she just nails it in this movie. You feel for this girl, can identify with her, and really wish for her to succeed in life. Now whether this movie can be described as an independent (because I refuse to call it 'Indie') is up to debate, but I love the look of the film. It's very basic in camera movement, but in terms of style, use of color, and environments it gets an A+ very easily from me on visuals. I don't know, for such a simple movie it had so much heart, and intelligence to it, there are few to no cliches in the movie, and honestly I only have one problem with the movie. The ending. Now let me clear this up, not the actual ending. Well....kinda. Basically the movie could have ended perfectly at several different points! Like, there was at least 4 or 5 instances where the credits could have rolled and I would have been very satisfied. But the film just keeps...sort of, meandering on and ends right the hell out of nowhere and it kinda hurt the film. I thought Return Of The King had a severe case of multiple endings disorder, this reaches a whole new level! The movie ends on a fairly basic and just all around "Eh." moment, and it could have done better! Did I still like the movie? Yeah! Do I recommend you watch it? Very highly, yes. It is a very good movie, not perfect, but very well done and an important movie to see, regardless of age, gender, or current standing in life. Will it win awards? Yeah. Do I still love Lady Bird? Without a doubt. But let me know how you thought the movie was, until next time good friends.