Lady Bird

Score:  A-

Directed by Greta Gerwig
Starring Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges
Running time:  93 minutes
Rated R

Long Story Short:  Lady Bird is a coming-of-age story featuring one of the leading actresses of the indie film world, Saoirse Ronan, and another behind the camera in Greta Gerwig.  Although the genre has seen countless attempts (mostly tiresome and all-too-similar, IMO), Lady Bird stands out thanks to a fantastic cast and smart and effective style, editing and script.  Highly recommended.


It's 2002, and Christine - or "Lady Bird" as she insists others call her - is another high school senior being prevented from reaching her potential.  That's how Lady Bird sees it, anyway, although her counselor at the Catholic school is skeptical about her dreams of escaping boring Sacramento for the dreamy independence of New York private colleges.  As she squabbles with her mother about the future, Lady Bird's status quo is upset during her last year in school.  She tries to start living the vision she has for herself, but in doing so strains old, reliable relationships with friends like Julie, and tests new ones with rebellious boys like Kyle.  Lady Bird finds herself thrown into turmoil as she struggles with the people in her life, trying to figure out not only who she is but who she wants to be.

Lady Bird has a great cast with some familiar faces, all of whom provide grounded performances.  Saoirse Ronan (pronounced "sir-sha"; whoever said SNL isn't educational programming?!) is tremendous as the lead, titular character.  While she's joined by her friends and family, the focus is entirely on her and she shines.  She does so well because she plays Lady Bird as just an ordinary girl; she (Ronan) rejects archetype and the pressures to fit one or another.  There is enough that's specific about her - the desire to go to a "cool" college in NY, her various social activities - yet the script mostly has her doing everyday things where her personality shines through.  Lady Bird loses her temper and screams, shrieks with joy, and - most commonly - struggles in silence figuring out how she does feel, and Ronan's impressive accomplishment is to make it all cohesive, a fully formed person.  Laurie Metcalf, playing Lady Bird's mother, has the most significant supporting role, and she does just as much with her part.  Sparks fly and the film is as its strongest in the pair's scenes together.  The film enjoys a number of other smaller but very well done performances, too, from Lucas Hedges' sweet boyfriend to Beanie Feldstein's best friend Julie, not to mention the quiet but influential father played by Tracy Letts.

Lady Bird is an outstanding coming-of-age film, one structured around a fairly standard story but enacted effectively with a great tone, script and style, in addition to the aforementioned stellar cast.  So many of these movies focus on the last year of high school for one or more young characters, too, but Lady Bird shows it all through a brand new lens.  The action starts off in a tense yet ordinary car trip with Lady Bird and her mother, introducing their powerful and realistic relationship that is the film's foundation.  This ends up being one of the longer scenes; although I was expecting the following montage of clips, introducing various aspects of Lady Bird's life, much of the rest of the film is composed of snippets strung together between the occasional longer set.  I don't recall seeing another film do anything quite like this, but it's very effective.  It keeps the pace humming and encourages you to remain attentive to detail; storywise, it allows the film to show "throwaway" moments that may not be important to the plot but are essential to an adolescent's daily life.  Importantly, it's also not done in a too clever or self-aware style, either.  This brings us back to Lady Bird's (and the film's) lack of an archetype - the film is not trying to guide you into feeling a certain way, and in fact, several times there is a jarring (yet natural) transition from elation in one scene to devastation in the next, much like real life.  As refreshing as both the emotions and the editing are, the script fortunately matches up with them.  The dialogue and acting is occasionally awkward; at first I thought it might be a weakness of script and/or performance, but it's simply capturing the awkwardness of teens in certain situations, and this becomes clearer as the film goes along.  Finally, Lady Bird has some good humor throughout, but I have to mention that it also has one of the funniest parts I've seen in a long time, featuring a football coach attempting to diagram the roles in a drama production.  You just have to see it.

***

Lady Bird is a triumph in many ways, not least in easily sidestepping most of the pitfalls of this well-worn genre, so often cliche-ridden and self-conscious.  It's not perfect; at times the abrupt editing style and naturalistic script just doesn't work so well, particularly early on.  It's both affecting and effective, but it's not built for quite the depth or endurance of impact that other dramas are able to achieve.  Still, those are just quibbles, and by any standard Lady Bird is a very well made film.  The style is perfect for telling the story of an average girl, not just because it creates such a vivid portrait of her and her world but also because it generates genuine compassion for her.  Perhaps other coming-of-age films might effectively explore unique angles or aspects of the genre, but when it comes to these films in general, I can't see any topping it (or even worth attempting).  Great way to balance the holiday movie excitement of Star Wars - try it out.




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Coco

Score:  A

Directed by Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina
Starring Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt
Running time: 109 minutes
Rated PG

Long Story Short:  Coco is the latest Pixar film, another visual masterpiece and featuring elements of Hispanic culture and tradition.  Perhaps not as wildly (and weirdly) creative as some of its kin, Coco nevertheless belongs in the company of some of the studio's best, delighting audiences with both sight and sound, and warming hearts with its characters and themes.  Highly recommended for all.


Miguel (Gonzalez) is a small, young boy with big, age-old dreams.  Raised by a family of shoemakers in Mexico, he idolizes the historic father of Mexican pop music, Ernesto de la Cruz (Bratt), and hopes to follow in his footsteps.  Unfortunately for Miguel, his family despises music due to a scandal from long ago, and they insist that he take up the family tradition of shoemaking and forget his dreams.  Frustrated, Miguel is determined to show them - and the world - that he is meant for music by entering a local competition.  First he must find a guitar, though, as his family took his away, causing Miguel to make a desperate and fateful decision.  Bound by a curse, Miguel must embrace his family again - albeit a much different version of it - to free himself, while keeping a tight hold on his love of music.

Coco features a compelling cast of characters brought to life by both Hollywood stars and newcomers.  Anthony Gonzalez lends the young lead, Miguel, an inspired and bright personality, gushing with enthusiasm and an independent spirit.  Miguel is extremely likable, and you find yourself actively rooting not just for him to overcome the various challenges but for his happiness; that may seem a simple thing, but all too often the plot (and any danger involved) in films like this becomes the focus rather than the young protagonist him/herself.  The two main supporting characters are Ernesto, Miguel's hero, and Hector, a scallawag of the Land of the Dead.  Hector provides a nice foil for Miguel as his companion through much of the film, a man who is also focused on a mission for himself but goes about it with cynicism in contrast with Miguel's idealism.  Ernesto is more significant as a symbol than as an active player in the story, but he eventually also plays a direct, key role as well.  There are plenty of other supporting characters, some of whom are a bit cliche but as a whole make up a unique and fascinating family portrait which gives the film a sturdy, warm foundation.  And Pixar has also come up with another instantly lovable dog companion, just for good measure!

Coco is an outstanding film, fitting nicely into the Pixar family with many of its familiar trademarks yet making its own mark through visuals, music and classic themes.  The story structure is a fairly familiar one, following a young lead on a fantastical journey to achieve a dream, in animated and family films generally, not just Pixar.  In less capable hands, this could easily have led to a predictable, unremarkable film that passes the time pleasantly but leaves little lasting impression.  And admittedly, Coco starts fairly slowly, although Miguel (and Gonzalez's performance) still creates a spark.  The slow start also allows room for the musical theme to be introduced, via some catchy, beautiful tunes.  It's not too long before Miguel enters the Land of the Dead, and Pixar's visual team gets its chance to shine, creating an unbelievably complex and colorful world, populated by skeletal denizens that convey their "status" while remaining capable of expressing human emotion.  Having wowed audiences through sensory wizardry, Coco begins to unpack the narrative themes which were quietly, patiently developed in the first half of the film.  Impressively, the themes of family are both specific to the intergenerational aspects of Hispanic culture as well as universally relatable (perhaps not just reaffirming but also enlightening).  A related theme is that of memory, another Pixar favorite. As always, you may want to have tissues on hand for some well-earned (and happy) tears.

***

Coco is yet another triumph for the best film studio of the past twenty years, Pixar.  Perhaps Marvel got its idea from them:  create a brand of films that share an overall feel (technical achievement and effective, genuine themes) at a consistently high level of quality, but give each individual film a unique angle on that worldview.  It is easy to say that Coco's "angle" is the Hispanic flavor Pixar film, but it is so richly and intricately created that that label is far too simplistic.  Yes, there is a distinct cultural feel (mark that as a success), but it is easily and naturally relatable to all.  Go for the characters, go for the culture; go for typically great Pixar animation and hummable tunes; and of course, go for all the feels and timeless lessons to be (re)learned.  Just go see the movie!




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Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Score:  C

Directed by Martin McDonagh
Starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell
Running time:  115 minutes
Rated R

Long Story Short:  Three Billboards, an awards season contender, features an interesting premise in the push for justice through unusual means by a grieving mother.  Frances McDormand's lead performance is as good as advertised, but the film itself falls well short.  The premise is squandered by an inability to find the right tone, which is often waylaid by dark comedy and violence, and an inconsistent script.  Opinions may vary widely, but proceed with caution.


A disconsolate woman, Mildred (McDormand), mother of a brutally murdered daughter, one day comes across three forgotten billboards alongside a little-used road.  At last, she has found inspiration: with the criminal investigation gone cold without producing any leads, Mildred rents the billboards in order to call out the police department in a very direct way.  Once local media puts her act of confrontation in the news, Mildred soon finds herself at odds not only with the police and their cancer-stricken Chief Willoughby (Harrelson) but much of the town's population, too.  Mildred's resolve is unshakeable, however, even as she and her teenage son receive harassment and abuse from everyone from the dentist to school children.  When tragedy strikes once more, Mildred's campaign comes under more pressure, even as new interest in and questions about her daughter's case emerge from unexpected sources.

Three Billboards has a great cast portraying a colorful set of characters.  Frances McDormand is the lead as despairing yet ruthlessly driven Mildred.  She does an excellent job, primarily through her physical embodiment of a barely contained rage; just a glance at her locked-in expressions tells you all you need to know, an expression that holds whether she is face-to-face with a pastor, the police chief, or a kid.  However, her underlying grief breaks through from time to time, and McDormand believably sheds the rough exterior and transforms into a genuinely vulnerable mother.  If anything, the film would have benefited from more of her.  Next is Woody Harrelson as Chief Willoughby, who brings an equal mixture of dramatic tension with Mildred and a darkly comedic element.  Harrelson is also very good, mostly dropping his eccentric trademark (save for a few bits) for a straight part.  He is intriguingly complex, buffeted by not only Mildred's attacks but also his personal problems yet remaining principled... to an extent.  Sam Rockwell has another significant role as a dim-witted, drunken yet also often humorous police officer.  Rockwell often gets oddball supporting parts like this and as usual, he does a great job - with what he's given, at least.  All other parts - most notably including Peter Dinklage and Caleb Landry Jones - are fine, but much smaller.

Three Billboards has many good elements (particularly the cast) within a great premise, but they are mostly spoiled by an inconsistent script and tone, which are at times bewildering and at others distasteful.  The story is very interesting, contrasting support for a mother's demand for justice against  unease at the methods she uses on others.  There are plenty of related, timely, fascinating themes in this, from the criminal justice system (and sexual assault in particular) to the relationship of media and public opinion.  While the film does well to avoid being too heavy-handed with any of that, it goes too far in the opposite direction by distracting from the story with oddly (and often, IMO, inappropriately) placed black humor and chilling violence.  Where these two elements are in Mildred's scenes, they work well and are appropriate, but the two police officers steal far too much screen time and focus.  Harrelson and Rockwell, again, do well, but the comedy and violence in their scenes is distracting and disorienting at best, and appalling at worst.  Both of their characters undergo dramatic changes which drive the development of the story (which should have been Mildred's job), and are otherwise problematic: for Harrelson, it's the way the film views his fateful choice, and for Rockwell, it's an implausible 180 degree shift in character.  There are further sidetracks, too, though at least they tend to involve Mildred.  One involving her ex-husband is cliched and mostly uninteresting, and the other, with Dinklage, had potential but is over in the blink of an eye.  Finally, too often the film veers between being too direct and unsubtle (mostly thanks to awkward moments in the script) and artsy-abstract, where coincidences often transform awkwardly into crucial realities.

***

Three Billboards is one of the biggest letdowns for me recently among awards contender films (also Hacksaw Ridge - terrible, way out of place with last year's other excellent Best Picture nominees and should be skipped).  In skimming critics' reviews, I haven't seen much about the film's tone, but it really bothered me.  This film had so much potential, particularly from the premise but also from the cast, but it squandered it with poor direction and an inconsistent script.  I didn't like many of the choices made, from the undue focus on the cops to an often tasteless application of the comedy and violence.  I think my overall score may be based more on my personal reaction to it than it is for other films, so you (like the critics) may come to a very different conclusion than me.  So give it a try if you're so inclined, but in my opinion you can wait until it comes to Netflix or DVD, if at all.




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