I swear to, well, stereotypical Barbie herself that I am gonna review the very pink movie soon (I have stuff to say about it!), but in the meantime, may I remind you of Greta Gerwig’s glorious debut as a solo writer and director, 2017’s Lady Bird.
Semiautobiographical and magnificently unique while also being all-encompassingly universal, this is an emotional feast full of humor and pathos about the audacity, the wonder, the horror that is female adolescence. Saoirse Ronan is magnificent as a turn-of-the-century Sacramento teenager yearning to be true to herself and to sculpt her own identity who keeps bumping into the complication that she simply has no idea who she is yet.
Palpably real and honest, this is a beautiful, bittersweet film, one that is very generous with all its characters’ flawed humanity. (Read my 2017 review.)
US: stream on Kanopy, Netflix, and Paramount+ with Showtime (via Prime and Apple TV); rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
UK: stream on BBC iPlayer (till Nov 14th, 1:41am); rent/buy on Prime and Apple TV
See Lady Bird at Letterboxd for more viewing options.
