My Film Comment review (in print and online) of Greta Gerwig’s absolutely wonderful film (her debut as a writer/director, at least flying solo) Lady Bird, starring Saoirse Ronan as an awkward and fearless teenager, gropingly “coming of age” in Sacramento (where Gerwig grew up). Gerwig can WRITE. But the direction is confident and sensitive too: she knows what she’s doing.
One of the best films of the year.
Thanks for your review and I will see this soon, I saw the trailer and now you have confirmed it.
BTW: The Florida Project. I won’t say anything except WOW and GO.
Lady Bird is so wonderful! Let me know what you think!
I wrote a little bit about The Florida Project here: http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=132127
Definitely one of the best films of the year. Wow indeed!!
Thank you! Yes, one of the best (I haven’t read the review you mentioned yet but shall):
Breakout performances by Brooklynn Prince and Bria Vinaite plus Willem Dafoe’s weary decency. Baker takes us down to the kids’ level with the camera, formal Ozu-like wide angle shots emphasizing the empty vastness of cheesy discount gift store parking lots that are these kids’ world. When we are brought into the hard adult world the moving camera slithers into Cassavetes’ lexicon, jittery, ever moving, focusing on random details.
The 400 Blows ending cannot be escaped, except instead of the sea the children escape, if only momentarily into the safety of the Magic Kingdom of childhood, which can never be extinguished by any horror.
I love that Sean Baker said that more than anything else he wanted to pay homage to “Our Gang/Little Rascals.” – which he loved so much when he was a kid. I think he totally succeeded.
Thanks, I did not know that and I agree. It’s certainly more fun that The 400 Blows, but there’s a sense of impending tragedy lurking. Baker undercuts everything, conveying Halley’s complacent and mostly good natured desperation, showing her hustling for rent in virtually every scene, always one step ahead/behind as Bobby cuts her every break he can until his own livelihood is on the line. Even the ending isn’t Big, just confusion, tired cops and a social worker arguing with a mother, everybody has their reasons.
The real tragedy in this slice of life is that the reality in America is that in places like Orlando, the squalor that attaches itself to the underbelly of the dream is far worse than what we see in the relatively sanitized underworld we look into in The Florida Project.
I’m also impressed with how much Baker accomplished without a big budget. He conceived a really compelling story of The Lower Depths and set it up to contrast quietly but omnipresently against the iconic Disney Entertainment Brand, they whom have sold dreams to more children than anyone…this takes The Florida Project to a level of Tragedy. I felt the same when Moonee and Jancey ran into the Magic Kingdom and froze as I did when I saw the sled marked”Rosebud” burning. And that’s good.
Yes, the ending is very powerful. But none of that would have worked if he hadn’t cast those kids so well, and allowed them to run wild, being hilarious and free and themselves. There are so few children in film who are allowed to be themselves – in all their annoying qualities, in all their adorable qualities. Survivors.
Moonee is someone I have thought about often since I saw the film. How will this look to her when she is older?
I thought a lot about Henry James’ harrowing book What Maisie Knew as I watched the film. It wouldn’t surprise me if Baker had read it.