Bird Is the Word

Earlier this week, I continued my progress through the list of likely Oscar contenders by seeing Lady Bird. Chances are you haven't heard of this movie, though if you have, it's probably as the movie being advertised as having a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (That held for several weeks, until one critic gave the thumbs down and spoiled it.) But what is the movie, other than universally well received?

Lady Bird, quite simply, is the story of a high school student in the early 2000s. The title of the film is the nickname she's chosen for herself. Her father is out of work and her mother is working two jobs to try to keep the family going. The movie tracks Lady Bird over the course of her entire senior year, dealing with teenage trials like applying for college, dating, trying out for the musical, falling in with the popular kids (and falling out with her best friend).

This is, as you can tell, real "slice of life" stuff. It's all portrayed with tremendous realism and honesty (and dry wit), and I think that's what all the critics are responding to. Rotten Tomatoes, remember, is just the aggregate score of distilling reviews down to "thumbs up or thumbs down," not capturing any of the nuance. It's hard to point to anything bad about this movie, so that sky high score reflects everything from tepid enjoyment to enthusiastic praise.

Count me in the former category. There simply wasn't enough of a narrative here to really get me engaged. This is the diary of a teenage girl in cinematic form. It's a little bit too shapeless; things happen, and yet it's easy to feel like "nothing happens." It's not even particularly illuminating, so long as you had a female friend in high school (or were female in high school). People who would "learn something" by watching this movie would never watch this movie.

On the other hand, I can clearly see that this movie isn't meant for me. This is 2017, a year in which demand for stories about women, by women, is higher than ever before. (Or perhaps more accurately, as high as its ever been, but being more acknowledged than ever before.) Wonder Woman was both rather conventional and something never seen before, by virtue of its star character. Lady Bird is both not new and entirely novel in the same way,: a high school coming of age story, centered on a character that doesn't often get to be the focus of movies like this.

I didn't love the movie, but I can easily imagine the people who would. For some people, this is going to be a celluloid "spirit animal" that speaks straight to them. I thought very particularly of a good friend from high school, who I imagine would love this movie with all her soul. There will be women who see this and say "this was me and my mother when I was a teenager" or "this was me with my first boyfriend" or "high school was exactly like this."

But my reaction was muted. I thought the movie was alright, though a bit aimless. Saoirse Ronan is great as the title character, giving a wide ranging but nuanced performance that will get her award consideration. Laurie Metcalf is wonderful as her mother, trying to do what's best for "Lady Bird" even when that sometimes means she'll be hated for it. There are also two fun supporting performances from Lucas Hedges and Timothée Chalamet. In his young career, Hedges seems to find his way only into Oscar-caliber films (having appeared last year in Manchester by the Sea and now in this and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri). Chalamet is being talked about as a possible Best Actor contender this year for Call Me By Your Name (still to come on my Oscar to-do list). It's actually a solid cast all the way around, though without many recognizable names.

As the credits rolled, I knew I thought Lady Bird was okay, but knew I didn't love it. I figured it was worthy of something like a B or maybe B- grade. When I went to Flickchart it, ranking it against other movies I've seen, I was a bit surprised to find that it actually fell in among movies I'd call C+. I think that means the reaction I've been talking about is really pronounced: I recognize the movie as something well made, something many people will love... and I'm really not one of those people.

Hopefully, I've given enough detail here that you'll know if you are. Maybe you'll want to take a daughter to see it, or a best friend. Maybe it's one for you to skip entirely. I'll be truly shocked if this somehow wins the Best Picture Oscar, but I won't be surprised at all if its a nominee.