Writer/Director: Greta Gerwig
Genre: Drama
(Reading time: ~3 minutes)
I have been following Greta Gerwig's career for some time albeit in a strange way. Strange because I have not watched any of her films besides the-horrible-oh-why-did-Natalie-Portman-do-this-film called No Strings Attached, where she was not even the lead actress or a writer. But she still made an impression in few scenes she was in, through her earnestness. Not soon after, she was writing feature films and starring in them. Unfortunately, neither of her films(especially Frances Fa, which I really wanted to see) were released in the city I was living in. But BAM! Ladybird came, swept everyone through their feet, got Oscar attention and managed to screen itself in a theater nearby.
And a breeze it is! Ladybird is a very tightly written, and shot, film about the rebels of a teenage girl living in Sacramento(in California) who feels trapped, somewhat ironically, in her relatively liberal household and longs to go away from it all, the city and the school, to the East Coast to be an artist. It is a funny, poignant and intense tale of growing up and the role our family, friends and other familiar environment play in anchoring us and making us who we are!
There are a few things that struck me as different and refreshing from other growing up films. The first one is the balance of perspectives, especially of her family's. Parents are not caricatures of strict-as-hell mother or a helpless dad. They are real people, trying hard to communicate with their rebelling kids. When Ladybird and her mother fight, and boy do they have screaming matches, you cannot side with anyone. You cannot weigh along with anyone. And this balanced perspective is what, then automatically, highlights the weight of the parent's sacrifice which we can feel but Ladybird doesn't. From that perspective, Ladybird is a typical angsty teenager character which can be extremely irritating to watch, but is loved only because Saoirse is able to pull an innocence in her turn despite a fierce earnestness and strong headedness.
The second thing I liked is the details, the fights on small things that happen in the family, which create a tense environment rather than a soft rosy one. The problems the family faces are relatable but there is not just one challenge, there are multiple. And they all come to the fore, with their fiery links when Ladybird and her mother have a go at each other.
Also the movie is very well written and shot. It is barely 90 minutes and still doesn't feel rushed up(like Netflix thrillers) given the scope and the plot it covers. Scenes are short and succinct. Dialogues are conversational, yet crisp and the arguments between Christine and her mother ramp up to 100 in no time. It only speaks to the level of performance of Saoirse and Laurie that their arguements come out so icy. One particular short effective scene is of Ladybird's mother working with sewing machine on Ladybird's dress the night before prom. At this point, it is already established that her mother is working two jobs. So, working on the dress late at night shows her love for Christine. It's a short scene, probably not longer than 10 seconds. Not showing it would have made no difference to the plot. But it conveyed the sacrifice of her mother. And Gerwig wrote this, shot and included such a scene for 10 seconds to convey this. This shows how vividly imagined and written this script is!
I don't know how much of Gerwig's own life is in this story. But it is a great debut and a great coming-of-age script. Though the protagonist is female, the film is a universal coming-of-age story underlining the strength of our roots and our home. Chrisitine "Ladybird" McPherson is not just a female protagonist. She is a strong protagonist. She is a strong character in a movie directed by a more-than-competent writer-director which holds the highest Rotten Tomatoes score, did reasonably well globally and is also a critic favourite. Are people still doubting female protagonists or directors?
