Taglines: Time to fly.
Christine McPherson’s senior year of high school in 2002/03 is presented, she the second of two offspring of Larry and Marion McPherson. Outwardly, she hates most aspects of her life. She hates that they have long lived a life of barely scraping by, their situation all the worse now as they as a collective are a victim of the poor economy.
That economic reality has led to Larry recently being laid off, Marion needing to work double shifts as a counselor at a psychiatric hospital just to keep their head above water, and Christine’s brother Miguel and his girlfriend Shelly moving back home in the McPhersons’ small and already overcrowded house with one bathroom now for five people. She hates that what her parents have decided to spend on her within their already tight budget is an expensive Catholic private school education at Immaculate Heart, solely because Miguel witnessed long ago some violence outside Sacramento High, where she would have gone otherwise.
At Immaculate Heart, she has only one friend, equally poor Julie Steffans, they playing upon their outsider status. She hates living in Sacramento, she who is determined to go to a liberal arts college back east, preferably New York City, using financial aid rather than go to a California college such as nearby UC-Davis for which she would eligible for an in-state reduction in tuition, that option already barely affordable.
Whether she will even get into college is questionable as she has placed little effort into her school work despite being bright, except perhaps in math. But arguably what she hates the most is her strained relationship with her mother, Marion who is always bad cop to Larry’s good cop in the parenting role. Marion and Christine’s strained relationship is exacerbated by both being strong willed people. Christine believes that her mother may love her because she has to, but truly doesn’t like her.
In not wanting to take things from her mother out of a natural course of family, Christine has decided to rename herself Lady Bird, something she wants everyone to call her from now on. As Lady Bird goes through some major events her senior year – from discovering a new school extracurricular activity which includes boys from neighboring St. Francis Xavier, to testing the waters of dating, possible first love and the prospect of sex, to wanting to be part of the in-crowd, to truly placing some effort into her short term post-secondary dreams – she and Marion may only have a short period of time to express their true love for each other, family or not, before it’s too late.
Lady Bird is a 2017 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Greta Gerwig, and starring Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Lois Smith. Set in Sacramento, California, it is a coming-of-age story of a high-school senior (Ronan) and her turbulent relationship with her mother (Metcalf).
Lady Bird premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 1, 2017, was theatrically released in the United States on November 3, 2017 by A24, and has grossed $41.6 million against its $10 million budget. It was chosen by the National Board of Review, the American Film Institute, and Time as one of the top 10 films of the year.
At the 90th Academy Awards, the film earned five nominations: Best Picture, Best Actress for Ronan, Best Supporting Actress for Metcalf, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director; Gerwig became the fifth woman to earn a Best Director nomination. At the 75th Golden Globe Awards, Lady Bird won for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Ronan), and also received nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Metcalf) and Best Screenplay. At the 71st British Academy Film Awards, the film earned three nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Ronan, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Metcalf and Best Original Screenplay.
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Lady Bird (2017)
Directed by: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Lois Smith, Stephen Henderson, Odeya Rush, Marielle Scott, John Karna, Bayne Gibby, Laura Marano
Screenplay by: Greta Gerwig
Production Design by: Chris Jones
Cinematography by: Sam Levy
Film Editing by: Nick Houy
Costume Design by: April Napier
Set Decoration by: Traci Spadorcia
Music by: Jon Brion
MPAA Rating: R for language, sexual content, brief graphic nudity and teen partying.
Distributed by: A24 Films (United States), Universal Pictures (International)
Release Date: November 3, 2017
