Lady Bird narrates the story of Christine McPherson, a late-teen high school senior in 2002 who didn't like to be called by her given name. She has an aversion towards Sacramento, California, the birthplace she's dying to get out from. And the film documents this lady bird's maturation through rebellion, unhappiness being herself to realizing the Truth, before coming to balance with the Lie she believed.
The specialty of this picture lies in how relatable the occurrences described were, at least to most of us. Being the unpopular ones trying to blend in with the opposite, parties, theater arts, having selected best friends, hanging out, crushes on students, crushes on teachers, high school love, having sex for the first time, worrying about pregnancy, breaking up with love, breaking up with friends, part-time jobs, college applications, instructor changes, best friend changes, driving test, so on and so forth. How many of us would have asked our parents how much they’ve spent on us growing up so that we could pay them back? How many of us middle-classers would have fancied for a big, beautiful house that we know it's far from reach? Or in fact, how many of us would have or at least tried to sabotage our teacher's belongings? It's all portrayed here!
But what took the center stage was Lady Bird's (Saoirse Ronan) relationship with her mother, played by Laurie Metcalf. Their disagreements, hidden love and conflicts formed the framework in which rest of the incidents were injected in. Anytime something positive happens in her personal life, she immediately faces something negative in terms of family burdens or pressures when she comes back home. Surprisingly, as much as they argue, they could easily switch between polar ends in minutes!
Speaking of arguments, the conversations flow like fluid! Major credit for this goes to the editing which always cuts a scene when it's 10% into a dialogue, prompting us to follow what's already transpiring, keeping our interest and attention on the front seat. This helped in transliterating the way the director of this autobiography viewed these events. An example of such a scene would be the gay encounter at bathroom. Just because it was edited and shot that way, it was more shockingly real than it would have been for not.
Timothée Chalamet was good as Kyle! The odd pairing between the lead and him were nice to be part of. Supporting characters were used to show sexuality discovery, different forms of student lives and vastly distinct activities engaged. As Christine dropped the moniker she awarded herself, she missed home, the place and people she badly wanted to leave. Drunk sessions at the end could have been trimmed in order to leave the resolution punchy.