Cadinho93’s review published on Letterboxd:
"I want you to be the very best version of yourself that you can be."
Lady Bird is a fluent narrative, charming, witty and bittersweet film. It's a film that captures not only a time and place in contemporary history, but also captures a part of the rebellious, naïve, painful and occasionally fun process of becoming an adult. The film feels honest in a way that isn't overly nostalgic or based solely on a teenage perspective. Subtextually the film and it's themes appear to be an honest reflection on one's earlier time in life. Narrative wise the film opts to ditch the traditional "end state" of it's characters and relationships to one another. People and their relationships are realistically displayed on a continuum that has the illusion of extending beyond where the film starts and stops.
The film succeeds in demonstrating the the motives of it's primary characters, while under traditional circumstances I'd consider myself in many ways different from the protagonist, Christine "Lady Bird" MacPherson (Saoirse Ronan), the film never left me with a question to ask why she did something (through good subtext or selective details) making her story empathic to a wide range of viewers. You'll root for her when she wins and mourn when she loses.
Greta Gerwig also shows perspectives of other characters: Marion MacPherson (Laurie Metcalf), Larry MacPherson (Tracy Letts), Daniel "Danny" O'Neill (Lucas Hedges), Kyle Scheible (Timothée Chalamet), Julianne "Julie" Steffans (Beanie Feldstein), Sister Sarah Joan (Lois Smith), Father Leviatch (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and Jenna Walton (Odeya Rush), rather than completely being absorbed with the main protagonist. This itself devises the originality that most rom-com-indie films lack off.
Overall, Lady Bird is a great film because it didn't only target one theme, but took on so many different ideas pertaining to money, mental health, religion, identity, love and popularity.
