Nominations: 5 (Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay)
Lady Bird is perfect. My heart swelled the whole time I watched it (as soon as it came to my city, in December), and my heart swells just as much every time I think of it now. Greta Gerwig, in her screenplay and her direction, has distilled a near flawless depiction of a teenage girl’s transition into womanhood. She captures the dichotomy of confidence and insecurity, of burgeoning sexuality and utter awkwardness. And most beautifully of all, she captures the frustrating existence of a girl’s relationship with her mother — so tangled up with love and annoyance, with dependence and the push for freedom. It took me right back, and I felt that I was seen, that my stepdaughter was seen, and that all my friends were seen. It’s just perfect.
In addition to being an exceptional representation OF women, Lady Bird is also an exceptional feat FOR women. Every single Oscar nomination it received (all of them major category nods), goes to a woman. The only men recognized are the two who share production credit with Evelyn O’Neill in the Best Picture race. I’m far from an Oscar historian, but this is a big deal. It’s at once acknowledgment and validation that women can do the jobs behind the camera that so often — even now, in 2018 — people assert men are better at. Coupled with the all-female nominations for Mudbound, it’s hard not to feel a seismic shift in the way movies are viewed and appreciated, or at least the potential for one. It’s also further proof that women can carry movies, and that movies can be about women’s stories, and still achieve success. (To be sure, this fact has been proven over and over again, yet when pressed many studios will still consider films about women to be “niche” projects.)
I’m so in love with this movie, so impressed with the performances of Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf, and so amazed by the work of Greta Gerwig, who has quickly become one of my absolute favorite 21st century filmmakers, that I just want to hug everyone involved. See it with your ladies, ladies.
Viable Option 