Review of Lady Bird (2017) by Travis W — 08 Jan 2018

Unlike its subject-adolescence, which is typically a squirmy, trying experience and makes for typically squirmy, trying films-Lady Bird doesn't squirm at all. Most of us who wanted nothing to do with our own adolescence could spend countless hours sitting with Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson's (Saoirse Ronan). Delightful restraint characterizes this directorial debut from Greta Gerwig, and, with that, she has put together the most even-keeled viewing experience of the year.

There's no high drama, no nail-biting suspense, no raucous action sequences, nothing that could even rightfully be considered a culmination, a climax, or a denouement.

The story unfolds in mostly staccato developments, occasionally punctuated with a grand sweeping gesture, much like reality does, and much unlike the familiar three-act structure of most films.

In place of cinematic formulae, there's a trueness to life that is easeful and warm, funny and tragic at times, but in ways that make you feel comfortably alive, not torn asunder to one extreme or the other. The whole film breathes with a palpable buoyancy.

Not one character is unrealized, no bad guy (or girl) who is just utterly cringe-worthy. There are people, definitely flawed, but also sympathetic and tender. Gerwig avoids using characters as easy dramatic devices, instead weaving a fabric of relationships made of much heartier, more vital stuff. In a film populated with so many faces, endowing each with emotional depth is a feat of both economy and sensibility. Lady Bird is short on neither.