Ladybird

Going into Ladybird, I had scattered expectations. My only previous exposure to Greta Gerwig was Little Women, which honestly, I didn’t care for too much. Still, after all of the good press Ladybird got, I remained optimistic, and I’m glad I did, because Ladybird is amazing. The true genius in this film comes in how real everything is. Not only does this allow comedy, but when the dramatic moments come in, the comedy simply adds to those moments. This type of style is something that I think works extremely well in film. No laughs come at the expense of the emotional ending. As someone going into college relatively soon, I really related with this movie, and the characters. And I think that literally anyone can find something to relate to in this movie, especially characters, allowing anyone to be able to feel the weight of everything. The way the film is structured makes the way time flows feel extremely natural, and honestly, most of the film doesn’t have a typical plot. Ladybird takes the typical plot structure and throws it out the window. The real plot comes within the first half hour, after that, it’s simply looking at Ladybird’s life waiting for college applications to come back. Doing this allows everything to breath, and it allows the ending to be more impactful as it feels more deserving. Of course, while I enjoy how creative the structure of this is, it did leave a few scenes feeling unnecessary. But, everything still added to how it feels to grow up. Part of the beauty is Ladybird’s growth as a character, becoming more ambitious, leads to her losing things, especially the people around her. Ladybird feels incredibly real. And while it is listed as a comedy, all jokes in the movie truly have a deep underlying dramatic meaning. All of this makes it so the faults in the characters drive the audience to gain insight into who the characters truly are as the character discovers that themselves. Overall, a truly wonderful film. I’m not sure why I ever doubted Greta Gerwig, as seeing this has made me quite excited to see what she is doing next. It’s clear it’s a good film when the emotional impact has resinated for days, that’s how Jojo Rabbit worked so well for me. Honestly, Ladybird has the same resonance. For all of that beauty and ugliness this movie presents, I give this movie 9.8/10. Highly recommended.