Lady Bird

— I’ll join everyone else in liking this one. It’s an amazing coming of age story where every character is so precisely crafted that you come to understand them all. Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson is a Sacramento high-schooler who wants nothing more than to escape Sacramento…and, probably, her mother. Her world is inhabited not by stereotypical parents and boyfriends and best friends, but by fairly complex characters. We end up with a mosaic of her world that reveals a lot about friendships, family, love and sex, and money and success and happiness. If you don’t go away reminded that everyone is just trying to do the best they can, you’re missing something important. Gerwig’s script is a joy and her direction, with its very crisp edges, counterbalances the glimpse of her free-wheeling mind you can see from the subject matter. It’s one to see if you can. Oh, and Laurie Metcalf is amazing.

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[2017. 94 min. Written and directed by Greta Gerwig. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, and Lucas Hedges.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/lady-bird-2017