Ladybird

'Tis awful.

Hello, Greta. Welcome to Datalounge.

I loved it, too. Resisted all the way, but it really charmed me. There are some corny parts, but I adored it.

lol, OP.

Best thread intro for awhile.

What is it about? I haven't a clue.

I ran across this the other day. Is it good? The title was off-putting.

What exactly happens in this movie? It's so lauded, you'd think she cures all human disease in the middle of the script. Isn't it just some angsty millennial with Laurie Metcalf for her mom? Witty banter. Cry. Eyeroll. Cry. Angst. Yell. Banter more. Love. Hate. Witty banter.

I'm genuinely curious about the film, but I'm resisting watching it. I'n afraid it will make me a little too emotional I graduated from St. Francis, the high school the it's based on and the director also attended, 35 years ago. I was one of the very few working class girls in my year (parents did factory and restaurant work) and I was exposed to Sacramento's wealthiest and snobbiest. It left a strong impression on me about the "haves" and "have nots"

its a good entertainment, its just not outstanding... nothing incredibly smart, no inovation and not that deep... still good!

LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!

I am also the guy who loves Gucci in the Designer's thread.

I just figure I owe it to you guys to give you some background.... some sad insight into my questionable taste..

I adore this little film.

I chose this over THREE BILLBOARDS bitches!

Why DO I listen to the negativity.

I will say that I would have watched I Tonya first, but I don't want to BUY that, and you cannot rent it.

And seriously bitches

I LOVE Greta. Loved her in that wonderful and underrated 20th Century Women (one of my fave films of all time) You all shat on that one to!

Loved her in Frances HA- come on, you have to listen to her monologue at the house of her friends with that cunt daughter of Meryl- Its lovely- about finding love-

I seriously love Jennifer Jason Leigh, but I don't care if Greta stole her husband. And you KNOW that is your fucking issue with little Greta and you are taking it out on Ladybird!

Love Greta, love Ladybird. I don't care.

R8, that’s what the movie is about. Or, a lot of it. It’s a coming of age movie, and also about moms and daughters and there’s a little gay stuff, too. There’s happy and sad and funny and humiliating and triumphant and more funny.

I loved it. I loved it A LOT, actually.

Just curious, for the people here who hated it so much, what 2017 movies did you like?

R13, I love you. Just know that you are loved.

Fuck these cunts, I love them too.

But fuck them. Just the same.

They are BITCHES.

Loving my Ladybird.

One of my favourite films of 2017, Laurie Metcalf should have won that Oscar.

R15. I want you. Now. And always. You are loved.

OP, you have awful taste. I hate to see what your opinion of good literature is. Fifty Shades?

I wanted to see it until I saw the trailer and it looked really underwhelming, very similar to lots of other films. But I’ll give it a shot thanks to you, OP 🤣

I just watched it too, I really enjoyed it.

I watched it for about half an hour and had to shut if off. Annoying, annoying people. Perks of Being a Wallflower was much better.

I liked it but was expecting the mom to die at the end.

Gurl, I hear you OP. Fucking LOVED Ladybird.

Great movie. Laurie is A++

Loved LadyBird. Laurie should have won the Oscar. Enjoyed the script. Have no desire to see Three Billboards.

Why are there so many haters? That hack Timothee WhiteOscarSuit was in this, and there have been at least 100 threads about him and the "other" movie he made. "When you call me Daddy"

Loved it but hate Timothée and his freakish 22 yo in the body of a 15 yo.

My favorite of 2017. It's a very basic plot but, dare I say, it's the most charming of them all. I don't think Laurie should've won, though. It was a great theater experience, too. The boisterous laughs, swelling and sniffling of women in the audience crying, and a huge round of applause as the credits rolled. This was such a good fucking movie!

[quote]Just curious, for the people here who hated it so much, what 2017 movies did you like?

Hated the hype, but enjoyed the movie. And yes, that Oscar belonged to Metcalf (and Manville) But asking “well what did *you* like” seems like baiting for a chance to dismiss others’ tastes and preferences. It’s unnecessary. Just love the movie if you do; it doesn’t need anyone else’s validation.

OP - I saw it today and LOVED LOVED LOVED it.

It was so layered; I am still thinking about it. (SPOILER: The name she gave to the guy in the dorm was a real moment of growth. )

I hated the mother.

What was the deal with the drama teacher priest? Why did he suddenly disappear and was later talking with Lady Bird’s mother at the hospital?

I feel kind of embarrassed, because I had assumed by the title that it was a historical drama about the 36th First Lady of the United States.

The premise (without major plot spoilers),, since people keep asking, is basically about a high school girl from Sacramento who wants to be anywhere but Sacramento and wants to be anyone but herself. She makes people call her Ladybird instead of her given name and everyone thinks that’s peculiar and lame. So...a dramatic teenager. She struggles with an overbearing mother who to me was just walking the line of being verbally abusive, and I think that’s what makes it feel so real; my sister’s relationship with our mom is a lot more like this movie relationship than my (gay guy) relationship is. It’s a quiet, low-action movie but the relationships and the characterizations are interesting.

[quote] feel kind of embarrassed, because I had assumed by the title that it was a historical drama about the 36th First Lady of the United States.

I thought it was from the 16th century.

[quote]Now, by my maidenhead at twelve year old I bade her come. What, lamb! What, ladybird!

~Romeo and Juliet

I loved it.

It was uncomfortable to watch in some places. I identified with Ladybird a lot. Or not really identified....but saw myself in her actions. Wanting to change my name, wishing we weren't poor....loving my mother and all she did for us but at the same time all of us clawing at each other. A little close to home.

Had to walk out of it. Her sniveling face made me vomit acious..

The mother is overbearing bordering on abusive? I think I'll skip. My mother wasn't just overbearing, but had anger problems and was extremely emotionally abusive to both me and my father. A thoroughly miserable woman. Don't need to get upset by "entertainment" Though I am curious to how they managed to capture Sacramento, whether they did any filming in the neighborhood, etc. (I live here now having come back to take care of my nasty mother who developed Alzheimer's and became even nastier) I guess I'll wait 'til menopause is over.

R36 I wouldn't say she's abusive. Smart mouthed, maybe, and sometimes bitchy, but it's very clear she loves Ladybird.

R32 is not quite correct.

the mommy was gross and shoulda met a grease fire.

Lady Bird is hated on here because of Greta. All actresses and women in general are hated on here. Whar kind of gays you people are?

Don't you ever listen to them.

Lady Bird . Not "Ladybird"

lady bird shit

Of course most gays hated it because there was a vagina in it.

There were penised persons in it, too. I went to see it for Timmy. Didn't know about Lucas until I saw him.

Laurie Metcalf as the BPD mom was triggering.

I loathed, hated, and detested her, R44. She had the Judge Judy elements of my mother.

R37 “Overbearing bordering on abusive.” I stand by that. A person can be accidentally abusive...and I don’t think this mother was a verbal abuser in a Trump sense, but yes, in the long run, a mother like this is the source of lifelong insecurities. A nonabusive overbearing mother would be: “Did you do your homework, Lady Bird? If you want to get into NYU, then you need to work harder.” This mother is: “Why are you working so hard, Lady Bird? You’re not going to get into NYU. You’re not that smart. Lower your expectations. I just don’t want to see you get hurt because you think you’re capable of more than you are. You know I love you, right? I’m just being honest with you—you’re not as special as you think you are, OK? You’re not special, just an average girl from Sacramento who thinks she is more than she is.”

That’s abusive IMO, even if the mother thinks she is being cruel to be kind. Any parent who puts limitations on their kids instead of letting them try as hard as they can to me is a damaging parent.

However, that said about the mother, part of what makes this movie good is the honesty of the dynamics. Lady Bird seems ashamed of who she is and where she is from, and that hurts both of her parents and I can imagine after many years of your own kid being ashamed of you, you might start to act more and more as her mother did, just fed up with the intratitude and shame. It’s easy to fault the mother, but in reality the daughter is an asshole to her family—as teens often are—and she legitimately hurts both of her parents. Usually in TV and movies, teenagers are shown as jerks in an innocuous way. Here, I think, we see how deeply the girl hurts her parents, as well. The movie is mostly from Lady Bird’s perspective, but I could see that the mother was both at fault and reacting with pain to her daughter’s self-assigned embarrassment (we didn’t really see any of her peers judging her for being less affluent), and her father just took all the abuse and came across as a punching bag since he always supported his daughter instead of setting her straight the way her mother did. That also has the effect of making us more invested with the mother, whether we read her as more abused or abusive. Again, it’s quite a parallel to the dynamic between my mother and my sister. We had very different experiences inside our families, and my mom was definitely more overtly patient with my mistakes than she was with my sister’s.

I guess in the end what I think this movie does best is present a straightforward coming-of-age story in which not a whole lot happens plotwise, but nevertheless shows more human characters than we usually see. Even though it’s from LB’s perspective, we can fill in the motivations and emotional reactions of all the characters.

Jackie sounded more like Roseanne.

Has Laurie M ever done different accents? Whether she’s from Lanford, Illinois or Sacramento, CA or Wisteria Lane, every time I’ve seen her onscreen she seems to have had the same dialect.

Gave up after 30 minutes of what felt like just endless, dreary bitchiness between these women. I see that all day at work, don't need to see more of it on the screen.

And yes, I know I have the cinematic taste of an 8 year old boy, but plot-free, "character driven" movies have never been my thing.

The mom was not abusive. She was just realistic and had a hard time connecting with her daughter, who was a dreamer. To make matters worse, the mom wasn't the type who can express her feeling easily.

The movie was cute. But the main character annoyed me. She was pretentiously artsy for the sake of being different, and she somehow thought the being in New York with other artsy people was going to be the answer to her life's problems. (Like 70s/80s gays going to San Francisco, I guess).

I identify with the mom. You can be artsy in Sacramento. Find other artsy people here. If there are no artsy people, be the change. Like Dorothy Gale discovered, happiness is in your own backyard. You don't have to abandon everyone who loves you...and expect them to refinance their house for you to do it.

What it comes down to is that this was the director's life experience, and she apparently thought it was so special that she needed to make a movie about it. (Just like Sofia Coppola thought her boring affair with a married man was so special that she decided to make "Lost in Translation" about it.) The only thing that saves this pretentious movie is the lead actress, the chubby girl who plays the best friend, and of course the talent of Laurie Metcalfe, which brings credibility.

R51 I get what you’re saying, and again I think this movie is particularly good because a lot of different perspectives about characters’ behaviors and motivations are supported.

I was both artsy and practical throughout school. My art teacher expected me to go to an art school but to me that was totally impractical; I was not wealthy and I knew painting wouldn’t support me financially, especially because I am not the sort of person who can sell himself. So I went to college to study biology. And then I went to grad school...for fiction writing. And I resumed painting. It wasn’t until grad school that I found like-minded creative people, and that was a major relief despite the impracticality of an MFA. To this day, I find overly artsy and histrionic personalities to be tedious, but with hindsight I also have an appreciation for people who are so seeking and so free with their self-expression, whether part of it is put on or not. I paint and I write when the mood strikes, not as a profession...and that is my preference. I would not be comfortable having to produce and sell consistently on demand to sustain myselr. But I can’t lie, either: Washington, DC is lacking in creative culture, and it’s a lonely place to be, even for an introverted loner, because the culture simply doesn’t have much of a creative community. It is lonely. The movie made me feel like Sacramento is similar, and from the character’s perspective especially in her teen years, I get it.

[quote]It’s easy to fault the mother, but in reality the daughter is an asshole to her family—as teens often are—and she legitimately hurts both of her parents.

One of my favorite Marion/Metcalf moments is when Christine is whining about having to hang up her uniform, asking something to the effect of, Didn’t you ever wish your mom hadn’t gotten upset with you? where Marion simply replied, My mother was an abusive alcoholic.

It’s never brought up again, and in lesser hands it could be too afterschool special, but the way Metcalf delivers it, you suddenly see exactly who this woman is and why.

r52, I get what you're saying about DC. Why not take a class at one of the metro area community colleges. (i.e. pottery at NOVA) You'll meet people of all ages who are trying to get in touch with their creative sides.

twas full of grouchery and angry fuckery.

NEGATIVE

I'm still not over the scene where Christine gets into a fight with Julie and yells at her that her mother made [italic]two[/italic] mistakes.

No one mentions the time shifts? I liked it a lot and told my friend that it didn't have to have the and he never even noticed them when he saw it in the theatre. There were scenes like when you see the beige dress hanging in her room and later we see her buying it or she confronts her boyfriend about a secret and later we see how she knew it. I have no problems with the technique but here it just wasn't a need here.

I just watched this. I do not get what the fuss is about. The heroine is a spoiled brat. I wondered what she was going to study in college at the end, as she's shown no interest in anything throughout the film.

The one thing I liked was that it showed a girl losing her virginity from her point of view: unglamorous, unsatisfying, something to laugh about later.

Just saw this too. Wish the gay storyline was more significant.

This thread is a mess.

OP, I love it too. Fuck the haters.

We all hated her