Ladybird

Set in Sacramento, California in 2002, Ladybird centres on Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson, a high-schooler who behaves with the unselfconscious conviction of a young kid. Gerwig’s pink-haired protagonist is seemingly unencumbered by the awkwardness and fear that dogs most teenagers on the cusp of change. Though the film gives us milestones from Lady Bird’s coming of age, its key preoccupation is the jagged relationship between Lady Bird and her mother Marion, who works tirelessly to keep her family afloat after Lady Bird’s father loses his job. Her blunt pragmatism butts heads with her daughter’s dreams of moving to New York, “where culture is”.  The scenes between mother  and daughter are electric; their inability to communicate ring with excruciating veracity.