julia!!’s review published on Letterboxd:
lady bird was a reminder of how awful it is to exist as a human being, to grow into an identity or personality that you are not sure how to create, but also how amazing it can be.
christine – lady bird – reminded me so much of myself as i’m a 17 year old without a clue about who i am. how i have an urge for independency, to achieve things for and by myself but can’t seem to find a way to do so without being completely ignorant of my selfishness toward the people i care about, thus pushing them away and making others feel like i don’t care about them.
don't you think maybe they are the same thing? love and attention?
the two scenes that particularly struck me were the “do you like me?” conversation at the thrift store – that insecurity of being loved by someone because they have to but not being liked is something i’ve felt for years now, finally put into words – as well as the scene where lady bird is desperately yelling apologies at her mom trying to get her to speak to her. i despise how much of that scene and dialogue i’ve said to myself before; the scene displaying the realization that even when you admit to your bad behavior, it doesn’t make things okay again.
this film woke up my appreciation for life and being alive and living the best life i can by being the best version of myself. i’m not known to enjoy the simple, coming of age genre that lady bird fits into but i found it to be more natural and honest than some other coming of age films that i’ve found to be either be lacking consumable content, flat our pretentious, and/or fake deep. i think lady bird is a perfect example of entertainment with significance and humanity without being empty. it made me recall that sometimes great films don’t have to be from the deepest parts of our imagination to leave us astonished.
from what i’ve read in other reviews, greta gerwig somehow captured the lives of so many; teenage girls, mothers, families and friendships, and how each person we interact with shapes the lives of one another. all of these qualities makes this film and its characters easy to relate to, fall in love with, hate, or be ambivalent to. i have to applaud miss gerwig as i’m completely impressed with this quite frankly, instant classic, and can’t wait to see more from her!
