I agree. I thought the movie was a love letter to Sacramento. It portrayed it in a good light. Some beautiful shots. Like many young people, Lady Bird couldn’t wait to get away but once away she realized how much she missed what she had and discovered a newfound appreciation for it. At least that was my take. I’ve seen the same thing play out with nieces/nephews and other young people in my life. Another reason why the movie rang true to me.
After all this talk about “Lady Bird,” I’m happy to announce that the movie will be available on DVD/Blu-ray in two weeks (March 6th)!
Was anyone else disgusted by the mom giving her daughter the silent treatment for far too long prior to leaving for college? Emotional self indulgence seemed personified by this act, hurtful to all involved, and most moms would be more mature, or so I’d hope.
It also is an example of a less than nuanced college search. Cow town U and Bernard are two extremes and there might have been far more options in the middle. Not to disparage Davis, which is a fine school.
@great lakes mom, I cannot imagine doing that to my child. My DH would not let that behavior go for more than a few hours without having a BIG conversation about it, much less days or weeks or whatever it was. I also would have plenty to say to my DH if he treated either of our daughters that way. The DH in the movie seemed pretty weak and helpless. Sure, he did go against her wishes by supporting LB’s wishes, but it was all on the down low. No direct confrontation at all.
Yeah, there were a lot of secrets in this movie. Even when the husband finds and shows the letters from mom to LB, he tells LB not to tell her mom.
Those of you who liked Lady Bird may want to check out (if you haven’t already) Greta Gerwig’s other semi-autobiographical films, that she wrote (and acted in), and that her boyfriend Noah Baumbach directed.
Mistress America has Mozart In The Jungle’s Lola Kirke playing the Gerwig character as a freshman at the same sort of Barnard/NYU hybrid which apparently accepted Lady Bird. She’s learning how to write, and learning how being a good writer isn’t always the same as being a good person, or getting a good boyfriend. And Gerwig plays a fre-spirited woman a few years older, on whom the younger woman has a tremendous crush, while recognizing how self-deluded and screwed up her role model is. It’s very funny.
Frances Ha, which came first, is a further exploration of the charismatic but ADD’d bohemian postgrad Gerwig never really was – she became something of a low-budget indie movie star while she was still in college – but maybe sort of felt like for the brief time it took for her to get mainstream success and a mainstream successful partner. This character comes from (and revisits) Sacramento, but went to Vassar.
Lady Bird already seems to be available for purchase on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Lady-Bird-Saoirse-Ronan/dp/B07739DCGN – though not yet for a rental.
As a daughter, who adored, and hated, and railed at, and ignored, and needed, my dear sweet mom (and have felt being on the other side of that with my own kids), I found the mother-daughter relationship struck a very real tone. The shopping for the prom dress scene at the thrift shop, where the mom is first nagging about how LB must be tired (or hungry, or something) to the next instant when they both brightened up at the dress that might be “the one” – simply portrayed how family relationships can be. And the “pick-me-up” therapy of window shopping open houses (which my mom did with me, without hesitation), I found the relationship true in all its warts.
^^^What struck me about the thrift shopping trip was when LB says about one dress, “I love it!” and the mother ruins her moment by saying, “You don’t think it’s too pink?”
But that exactly nails it in terms of mother/daughter relationships. Are there any moms/daughters who don’t essentially replay that scene in their own lives over and over again? (And in both directions).
I can’t tell you how many times the words “are you going to wear that?” popped out of my mouth when my daughter was in high school. She never wore anything scandalous… And usually I liked what she bought… but not so much in reverse 
This year (she’s 29!) is the first year in decades that the clothing I bought her for Christmas wasn’t exchanged. Woo-hoo !!!
I enjoyed the movie, but for the life of me I cannot see why it was set in 2002/2003. What was the point of that? Why not set it in present day? I thought if it was going to be set in those years that maybe it would somehow factor in 9/11 or something, but it didn’t do that either. Why that choice of timeframe, if you’re not going to make a point with it?
It’s not exactly autobiographical but I’d call it semi-autobiographical as it mirrors a lot of Greta Gerwig’s life. That said, a lot of books, movies, tv shows, etc. are set in different time periods. Being set in a post 9/11 settings did factor in in terms of the economic weakness of the time and how that affected jobs for certain family members.
Gerwig graduated high school in 2001, so that’s the time frame. And it’s possible that she deliberately chose to set the movie a year later (2002/2003) specifically to avoid having to deal with 9/11, given the impact event would have had on anyone’s senior year of high school.
But there were references to 9/11. At the end of the movie, when mom drives to the airport with LB, she says that she won’t park – it costs too much – and besides, now they won’t let me walk you to the gate anyway. Definitely a reference to new airport restrictions.
Also, IIRC, one of the reasons mom didn’t want her in NYC was because of 9/11.
But that’s not the same as having include the event as a senior year plot point, as opposed to a passing reference. 9/11 had a huge impact on everyone. So perhaps Gerwig remembered from life experience how impactful that had been on her school experience, how shaken everyone was, the assemblies and fundraisers or whatever that took place, and just didn’t want to make her movie be about 9/11.
But if she graduated in May 2001, 9/11 wouldn’t have been part of the story at all. She’d have been dropped at the airport pre-9/11. Maybe she wanted 9/11 to be part of the movie so moved everything forward to include it as a new consideration.
Gerwig graduated in 2002 - https://www.biography.com/people/greta-gerwig-21430131
DD and I watched - Redbox now has it. DD wanted to see it. I like movies in the past because you can reflect how different things were, how much things have changed, etc. DD is graduating from college in May.
IMHO kids may be exposed now to more stress because of technology - knowing so many more global things. I grew up in a ‘smaller world’.
I liked the movie - showing real relationships that do occur in a lot of households and between the characters portrayed.
spot on