Director Greta Gerwig as an actress in Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha (2012)
LADY BIRD B
USA (93 mi) 2017
d: Greta Gerwig Official
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Anybody who talks
about California hedonism has never spent a Christmas in Sacramento.
—Joan Didion
Not sure why critics have gone gaga over this film, as it’s
not nearly as insightful or as skillful as Kogonada’s Columbus
(2017), for instance, another low-budget indie film taking place in a small
town, which simply resonates with greater depth and purpose, while Gerwig’s
film feels more smug and self-centered, overly satisfied with itself, where
humor is more prominently featured than most dramas, with much of this feeling
like bits written for SNL comedy sketches, never getting as deeply under the
surface as some of the best coming-of-age dramas. Perhaps in a regressive historical era,
people are thankful for splashes of humor, giving this more credit than it
deserves, though it’s as much a comedy as it is a drama. Typically, comedies are underrated, never given
the credit that dramas generate, but this seems to be the exception, appealing
to the centrist in us all, where it has downbeat tones, but is more upbeat than
usual, offering a cheerful glimpse of a depressing time, which perhaps accounts
for its success. I’ll offer a list below
of other recent coming-of-age films seen, nearly all of which are as good or
better than this one, with more than 30% of the films listed directed by women
(nearly 44% since 2011), but few have been singled out for similar praise,
making this a feelgood film of our times.
While coming-of-age films typically have terrific, on point musical
soundtracks, this one is fairly lackluster, never rising to the occasion,
instead the writing dominates, as it’s a particularly well-written script,
essentially a mother and daughter story.
Perhaps the biggest accolade received so far is that this film is a
welcome relief from the oppression of sexist stereotypes that dominate the
movies, made all the more significant by watching the trailers that precede the
film, where viewers are witness to a stream of sexually promiscuous women
accentuating their cleavage or their figure, all subjected to leering eyes,
with male stars attracted to women half their age, but are otherwise dominated
by exclusively male main characters, where the advertisements accentuate a
whirlwind of violence that is sure to follow.
Hard to argue with this, as American movies are part of a systematic
sexist problem that is only beginning to flush out the predatory aspect of the
industry. Still, one-third of all films
screened at Sundance this year were directed by women, up from the norm which
hovers closer to 25%. According to the
Celluloid Ceiling study (Research
– Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film), films employ
more than twice as many men as women (72% vs. 28%) as directors, writers,
producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers. Perhaps more significantly, last year 92% of
films had no female directors, while the percentage of women directing any of
the top 250 grossing films was only 7%.
Very few, if any films, are set in Sacramento, California,
though Buster Keaton’s STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. (1928) was filmed almost entirely in
Sacramento, while a character Gerwig played in Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha
(2012) also happened to be from Sacramento, but it happens to be the birthplace
of writer/director Greta Gerwig, listed as co-director with Joe Swanberg for
NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS (2008), and co-writer for several Noah Baumbach films, so
she’s making what amounts to her own film debut, creating a coming-of-age drama
that more than likely has autobiographical overtones. While the film is a love letter to the city
of Sacramento, it also reflects a woman’s experience and viewpoint, “a female
counterpoint to tales like The
400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups) and 2014
Top Ten List #1 Boyhood,” according to a Rolling Stone interview, "How
Greta Gerwig Turned the Personal 'Lady Bird' Into a Perfect Movie". “I just don’t feel like I’ve seen very many
movies about 17-year-old girls where the question is not, ‘Will she find the
right guy’ or ‘Will he find her?’ The
question should be: ‘Is she going to
occupy her personhood?’ Because I think
we’re very unused to seeing female characters, particularly young female
characters, as people…And that is something that really annoys the shit out of
me.” Apparently Gerwig has not seen a
host of female-directed films listed, as that is precisely what most of them
are about, while many male writers are equally adept at writing strong female
characters. Among the best for this age
group are Olivier Assayas’s Cold
Water (L’eau Froide) (1994) and Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost
World (2001), though this attempts but never reaches the heights of Jane
Campion’s rarely seen Two
Friends (1986) in terms of writing a scathingly honest script. But people are insulated by their own
personal experience, often feeling where they’re at sucks, and the world would
be so much better somewhere else. If
that was the driving force behind the film – fine, as any kind of motivation
that produces quality material must be viewed in a positive light. Ostensibly a story about a young teenage girl
who feels stuck in her surroundings, who’d prefer to go to a college as far
away as possible, preferably on the East coast, Saoirse Ronan from Brooklyn
(2015) is Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson, where the idea to use a nickname
simply dawned on her one day and she decided to run with it, which also
coincides with the idea behind the film.
Among the first words written in the script were, “Why won’t you call me
Lady Bird? You promised that you would.”
Even for the writer, herself, she was already intrigued, wondering “Who
is this person?” It turns out she dreams
of a life beyond her family and hometown, though she has barely passable grades
and little ambition, according to her overcontrolling, straight arrow,
real-as-it-gets mother, Laurie Metcalf, delivering one of the year’s finest
performances, resembling the closeness of the mother/daughter relationship in
TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983), which may as well be the gold standard, but here,
despite their obvious affection for one another, they spend most of the film
continually butting heads.
Set in the early 2000’s in a post 9/11 world, her mother
works double shifts as a psych nurse, an exceedingly difficult occupation,
treating people at the very worst stages in life, some wanting to end it
altogether, while her more compassionate father (playwright Tracy Letts) is out
of work, demoralized, feeling helpless to be of any real help. She has an adopted younger brother who lives
in the home with his girlfriend, probably the more interesting story, but
Gerwig chooses to ignore them most of the time other than to break into
occasional brother and sister family spats.
Instead, much of the film takes place at school, where she is a senior
in an all girls Catholic high school that at least onscreen resembles a dream
Catholic high school, as the nuns are rarely as benign as Sister Sarah Joan
(Lois Smith), the school Principal, where if you want to know about the
severity of Catholic nuns, read Native American author Louise Erdrich who
produces chilling images of what constitutes acceptable discipline in the eyes
of the church, as it’s meant to be dangerously severe and frightfully painful
enough to instill the fear of God, (Saint
Marie - The Atlantic from March 1984), while this, on the other hand, is
the most lenient Catholic school ever imagined.
Accompanied by her partner in crime, the perpetually overweight Julie
(Jonah Hill’s sister, Beanie Feldstein), whose friendship seems to be driven by
sincerity and authenticity, the two get away with everything, showing a
rebellious streak that smacks of privilege, as they get caught but never
punished, where you have to wonder what universe is this in, feeling more like
an imagined fairy tale. Sure enough, plenty
of time is spent searching for Prince Charming, even going so far as writing
their names on her pink bedroom wall.
The first invention is Danny, Lucas Hedges from 2016
Top Ten List #5 Manchester by the Sea, an attractive hunk in drama class,
as they’re seen rehearsing Stephen Sondheim songs from Merrily We Roll Along, where she veers from being all soft and
tingly inside to belting out Broadway hits with the best of them, becoming this
wonderfully expressive force onstage, with the brilliant Stephen McKinley
Henderson as Father Leviatch, this wonderfully creative drama instructor. But once she sees him kissing another boy at
a party, she crosses him off her list, losing all interest in theater as
well. Among the more insightful scenes
reveals the wide-ranging effects a single teacher may have on students, as
Father Leviatch mysteriously leaves school, but is then seen talking to Lady
Bird’s mom in a professional capacity, having what appears to be a breakdown,
all happening away from prying eyes, where he’s quickly replaced by an
assistant football coach, hilariously reducing theater scenes to drawing up
football plays on the chalkboard, where his unbridled enthusiasm transfers to
kids scoring touchdowns onstage.
As it turns out, her first Prince Charming is not what she
imagined, so she moves on, developing a fictional personality, dropping her
best friend in the process, instead ass-kissing the most attractive and popular
girl in school, Jenna, Odeya Rush, pretending to be just like her, which means
going to the same parties and living in the rich houses in town. Most of the confrontational scenes between
Lady Bird and her mother revolve around money, as they don’t have much, living
on the wrong side of the tracks, so her mother thinks she should be realistic
and choose a college somewhere affordable and close, but Lady Bird has other
ideas, refusing to accept her mother’s assessment, wanting something more, even
if it’s not remotely possible. Lady
Bird’s next invention is the aloof and perpetually morose Kyle (Timothée
Chalamet), a counterculture wannabe always seen with a book in his hand,
currently reading Howard Zinn’s A
People’s History of the United States, railing against all things
capitalistic while, of course, living the exorbitantly overprotected middle
class lifestyle that his wealthy parents can afford. Lady Bird’s interest in Kyle is that he’s
accepted into the social circle of Jenna, becoming best buds, going to parties,
living the dream, even if it’s all a lie, eventually exposed as a sham, where
she really can’t explain her motive, but it goes back to that original idea,
“Who is this person?” It’s obviously a sign
of desperation, a crying out for attention, wanting to be liked and
appreciated, even if she goes about it the wrong way. While it does suggest she’s ashamed of where
she’s from, wildly searching for another identity, it does lead to her first
sexual experience, where her reaction to it when breaking up several weeks
afterwards is priceless, throwing it back in the guy’s face, asking who makes
the girl go on top for her first time?
Inevitably, none of the boys are how she imagines, or her life, which
does not go swimmingly, but she still holds out hope that one of her college
applications will come through. In a
deadly serious one on one conversation with Sister Sarah Joan, after reading
her college application essay, the Sister couldn’t help but notice a strong
affection for Sacramento comes through “loud and clear.” Somewhat taken aback, Lady Bird responds that
it wasn’t her intention to offer effusive praise, but was simply trying to “pay
attention.” Despite all the melodrama,
and dramatic twists and turns, with her mother refusing to speak to her near
the end (which makes little sense, as usually this is a typical child’s
reaction), the inherent message of the film is that love and paying attention
are essentially the same thing, something she only recognizes at the end, with
a little help from her Dad, finally coming full circle. After seeing the film for the first time,
Gerwig’s own mother reportedly told her, “Greta, you wish I’d give you the silent treatment.”
Other coming-of-age films
Kogonada’s Columbus
(2017)
Joachim Trier’s Thelma
(2017)
Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s Heartstone
(Hjartasteinn) (2016)
John Carney’s Sing
Street (2016)
Mike Mills’s 20th
Century Women (2016) and THUMBSUCKER (2005)
Arnaud Desplechin’s 2015
Top Ten Films #7 My Golden Days (Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse)
John Crowley’s Brooklyn
(2015)
*Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang
(2015)
Rick Famuyiwa’s Dope (2015)
Alfonso Goméz-Rejón’s Me
and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)
*Marielle Heller’s Diary
of a Teenage Girl (2015)
Xavier Dolan’s 2015 Top Ten
List #1 Mommy and 2010
Top Ten Films of the Year: #7 I Killed My Mother (J’ai Tue Ma Mere)
Richard Linklater’s 2014
Top Ten List #1 Boyhood
*Céline Sciamma’ Girlhood
(Bande de Filles) (2014)
Niels Arden Oplev’s Speed
Walking (Kapgang) (2014)
*Alice Rohrwacher’s The
Wonders (Le meraviglie) (2014)
*Julie Bertucelli’s School
of Babel (La Cour de Babel) (2014)
Gabriel Velázquez’s Ärtico
(Arctic) (2014) and Iceberg (2011)
*Eliza Hittman’s It
Felt Like Love (2013)
Ragnar Bragason’s Metalhead
(Málmhaus) (2013)
*Sally Potter’s 2013 Top
Ten List # 10 Ginger & Rosa
Emir Baigazin’s Harmony
Lessons (Uroki garmonii) (2013)
Abdellatif Kechiche’s Blue
Is the Warmest Color (La Vie d'Adèle, Chapitres 1 et 2) (2013)
*Katell Quillévéré’s Suzanne
(2013) and LOVE LIKE POISON (2010)
James Ponsoldt’s The
Spectacular Now (2013)
Aron Gaudet and *Gita
Pullapilly’s Beneath
the Harvest Sky (2013)
David Chase’s Not Fade
Away (2012)
*Maarit Lalli’s Almost
18 (Kohta 18) (2012)
*Ursula Meier’s 2012
Top Ten Films of the Year: #10 Sister (L'enfant d'en haut)
Olivier Assayas’s 2012
Top Ten Films of the Year: #7 Something in the Air (Après mai) and Cold
Water (L’eau Froide) (1994)
Stephen Chbosky’s The
Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
*Rebecca Zlotowski’s Belle
Épine (2012)
Gabriel Mariňo’s A
Secret World (Un Mundo Secreto) (2012)
*Sarah Polley’s Take
This Waltz (2011)
*Mia Hansen-Løve’s Goodbye
First Love (Un Amour de Jeunesse) (2011)
*Jannicke Systad
Jacobsen’s Turn
Me On, Dammit! (Få meg på, for faen) (2011)
*Dee Rees’s Pariah
(2011)
*Lynne Ramsay’s We
Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) and MORVERN CALLAR (2002)
*Clio Barnard’s 2011
Top Ten Films of the Year #4 The Arbor
Robert David Mitchell’s THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER
(2010)
Matthew Porterfield’s Putty Hill (2010)
Greg Mottola’s Adventureland
(2009)
*Andrea Arnold’s FISH TANK
(2009)
*Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy
and Lucy (2008)
Christophe Honoré’s LA BELLE PERSONNE (2008)
Jason Reitman’s JUNO (2007)
Dito Montiel’s A
Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland’s QUINCEAÑERA (2006)
Noah Baumbach’s THE SQUID AND THE WHALE (2005)
Mark Waters’ MEAN GIRLS (2004)
Jonathan Caouette’s Tarnation
(2003)
Gus Van Sant’s ELEPHANT (2003)
Peter Sollett’s RAISING VICTOR VARGAS (2002)
Richard Kelly’s DONNIE DARKO (2001)
Terry Zwigoff’s Ghost
World (2001)
Shunji Iwai’s ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU-CHOU (2001)
Dardenne brothers’ ROSETTA (1999)
Lukas Moodysson’s Show
Me Love (Fucking Åmål) (1998)
Erick Zonca’s THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS (1998)
André Téchiné’s Wild
Reeds (Les Roseaux Sauvages) (1994)
Edward Yang’s A
Brighter Summer Day (Gu ling jie shao nian sha ren shi jian) (1991)
Allan Moyle’s PUMP UP THE VOLUME (1990)
*Jane Campion’s Two
Friends (1986)
Hou Hsiao-hsien’s A
Time to Live and a Time to Die (Tong nien wang shi) (1985) and Dust
in the Wind (Lian lian feng chen) (1986)
*Agnès Varda’s Vagabond
(Sans toit ni loi) (1985)
Maurice Pialat’s À
Nos Amours (To Our Loves) (1983)
Francis Ford Coppola’s RUMBLE FISH (1983) and THE OUTSIDERS (1983)
Dennis Hopper’s Out of the
Blue (1980)
Peter Yates’ Breaking
Away (1979)
*Female directors
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