Lady Bird is a film written and directed by Greta Gerwig about a seventeen year old girl coming of age in the year 2002 in the city of Sacramento, California.

Gerwig is definitely a force to be reckoned with. This films strongest aspect is its writing and how real everything feels. Gerwig perfectly depicted being a teenager and the lack of control and the confusion that is so often common in those years. Saoirse Ronan was fantastic as Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson. She took Gerwig’s words and made them her own, in a way.

I enjoy movies where there’s no villain, where we are just kind of glimpsing into a person’s life, briefly, and then we exit. That’s what this film is. Laurie Metcalf played Lady Bird’s mother, Marion McPherson. She could have easily been a hated character, with her passive aggressive ways and her frustration with her daughter. But, that’s not the case. We feel for her. We feel for her because we know that she loves her daughter and is trying her best to give her the best life that she can. And Lady Bird knows that, which makes it even more heart wrenching. Any time somebody says something about her mother and how her mother treats her, her immediate response is “she loves me”. The relationship depicted between mother and daughter was a very real one. One that I am sure a lot of people can relate to.

Lady Bird’s best friend, Julie, is played by a phenomenal actress named Beanie Feldstein. I adored her and her character in this film. And, she delivers one of the most heartbreaking lines I have ever heard: towards the end of the film Lady Bird shows up at Julie’s house to find her crying on the couch. She asks her what’s wrong and the answer that is given made my eyes water: Some people aren’t built happy, ya know?

All in all, I thought that this was a really beautifully done film. It’s Gerwig’s love letter to Sacramento, for sure. It was beautifully shot and written. The music was lovely. The acting was superb. Go. See it. You won’t leave disappointed.