Good Morning Lovelies, 

Greta Gerwig is always someone I have looked up to. As someone changing the film scene, her work is always modern with a touch of retro, bringing both worlds together to show that we haven’t really changed. But we might just need to! In her coming of age, Oscar-nominated Lady Bird, she uses a mother and daughter duo to show how alike the pair truly are, even when both of their worlds are so different.

Lady Bird, played by Saoirse Ronan, is a young woman, who finds herself wanting more from her life. Having changed her name, herself – something she argues with her mother (Laurie Metcalf) about – she begins her search for her place in the world. Joining the local drama group, discovering the meaning of friendship with her best friend (Beanie Feldstein), falling for a young boy who turns out to be gay (Lucas Hedges) and having a relationship with the coolest boy in school (Timothée Chalamet), only to have her heart broken seems like a teen film many have seen before. However, Gerwig takes it all and makes it afresh.

Gerwig and Ronan obviously clicked and made sure that audiences were going to see them at their best. Every character they come up with and every emotion on screen is one of heart. Fragments of a fragile organ that we have all felt break and have to work hard to piece back together again. Most of the times with the help of our family. Something Lady Bird doesn’t feel she can do, as her mother is feeling the same way. Their battles to fix each other ultimately leading to destruction.


Something that as a viewer leads you to see Metcalf stealing the screen action often. From arguments in a thrift shop to the tearful motions of the car pulling away after dropping her daughter off instead of staying behind to say goodbye. Metcalf gives audiences a slice of something that has been hidden away and shows us all that she is a powerhouse who can take a scene and make it her own. As Ronan does with Lady Bird too.

As an audience member, you can sense where Gerwig was going with the story. Teen angst reeled off like a Tumblr page, but with a clever mix of adult lives and gentle sowing of seeds not yet planted in the audience’s mind. For a directional debut, it is a sure way of showing audiences that this teenager is only going to grow and Gerwig is going to bringing us even more clever pieces as it does.

Lady Bird is a cleverly pieced together mix of coming of age angst, teen comedic moments and real-life fragility that audiences will be able to relate to. You know the feeling. You sense a similar relationship may have happened with your own mother. But it is the rebuilding and the raw depths of the script that show that as time goes by, those tensions can be fixed. Life can grow and ladybirds will fly home.

With a clever and well-thought narrative, cast and motions, Gerwig and co have earned themselves this…