Lady Bird revisited

"Sacramentoooooo, Sacramentoooooo, here I coooooooooommmmmmmeeeee" - the OC theme song guys, probably.

omg she has her airpods on, she can't hear us!!!

My first post on here was a review of Ladybird that I wrote while the film was still causing a commotion with the ladies of America. I wouldn't call it a review since it was really more of a rant on why this movie annoyed me. It's been over a year since Ladybird came out which has given me more than enough time to meditate on this movie and let it back into my heart. Let's be real, I'm still gonna be a bitch about all the fans, but I can't help it. I believe this was the 5th time I saw this movie, and I'm not gonna lie it's really fuckin fantastic. The first two times I saw it were in the theater, the first time before the hype, and the second time was during peak Ladybird fever season. The third time I watched it was after an exam last year, I got home early and decided to rent it from the library (look at me, defying the gen z stereotype that we don't use the library. Old people,phssssh...) This was in the spring way after the talk about the movie had died down and I was able to really enjoy it. The fourth time I watched this was a real fucking mistake. I chose to watch this my first night of college (we all have to hate ourselves sometimes) and it wrecked my mental state (we might get to this later, so stay tuned...) Which brings us to my most recent viewing which was a few nights ago. I was originally going to review it the second I got done watching it, but I decided to let the film macerate in my head before writing this. Also I am lazy. So with all of that useless information, here's what I have to say. FYI this is bound to get confusing being that "Ladybird" is both the title and the main characters name, so if you see "Ladybird" out of italics, I'm not stupid I'm just talking about Ms. Saiorse.

me with my pink-ass cast in 5th grade (and the same white uniform polo)

For those of you cretins who haven't seen Ladybird yet, I have one question (I bet you can't guess what it is, because I definitely don't ask this in every. single. post.) Why haven't you seen it? You've had over a year. This one's on you. Because my reader's are very cultured and have already seen this, I'm just gonna spoil the shit out of it. So Ladybird is a film about Christine "Ladybird" Johnson, the name Ladybird is in quotes because it was given to her by her. Ladybird, a senior in high school, is from Sacramento and she hateeeessss it. Her family isn't the richest, so her dreams of going to a school on the east coast aren't the most realistic. And with "aren't the most realistic", I mean that her mom, Marion (Fuck Off Rosanne, We're the Connor's Now's own, Laurie Metcalf) ain't gonna pay to let little miss Ladybird leave the great state of California for school. Even though they're "poor", she is still receiving a private catholic education due to her brother's witnessing of a knifing at his public high school. After meeting with the HBIC nun, she decides to audition for a musical being put on by both her school and their twin boy school. This is where she meets Danny (Lucas Hedges, boyfriend of the blog). They date, hangout, have some fun, like all movie romances, but it's also worth mentioning that Danny's into boys. After Ladybird and her lovely friend Julie discover this, they spend the rest of their evening in Julie's (?) car crying to Dave Matthews (way to age yourself Greta). From there, Ladybird moves on to Dick of the Century, Kyle (played by potential Dick of the Century, Timothee Chalamet). All Kyle does is read asshole philosophy books and complain about how the US is tracking us through our cell phones and that manufactured cigarettes are poisoning us with fiberglass or some shit like that. Shut the fuck up Kyle, no one likes you!!!!!!! They end up going their separate ways after they get down to business, and it is revealed that Kyle isn't the virgin he said he was. Gasp! I will admit Ladybird's reaction was a little bit ott, but if this is how Kyle had to go, then I'm glad it happened.

After all this we get should get down to the real focus of the film which is Ladybird and Marion. Like I said before, Marion doesn't want to pay for Ladybird to go east, which sets us up for lots of drama. Their relationship in the first half of the film is jut lots of bickering, thrift shopping, and Ladybird throwing herself out of a car. That being said, the second part of the movie is where the real shit goes down. I was listening to a podcast with Greta and Barry Jenkins interviewing each other, and Barry made a point about how when he saw Ladybird, for the first half of the movie everyone was laughing and enjoying what they thought was a comedy, but once it got to the last half the whole theater went silent and were like "oh shit". This happens when Ladybird illegally applies to NYC schools with her dad's help. While at her graduation lunch Danny congratulates Ladybird on getting wait listed, to which Marion replies "WaItLiStEd?????" and Danny's like "oh shit gotta blast". After that Marion totally ices Ladybird out, to the point where she refuses to walk Ladybird into the airport when she leaves for college. Of course we all know that Marion realizes her mistake and that Ladybird calls home in an attempt to make amends, which is happy but you're obviously still crying. That was the shittiest summary ever, I apologize. Now lets get away from this shit and onto my thoughts.

y'all don't look like you're leaving 6 inches for the holy spirit

I should start by re-addressing my former beef with this movie. I was lucky enough to see Ladybird the day it came out in Charlotte, which was a couple weeks before everyone else on the planet got a chance to see it. When I first saw it, the movie existed in this little bubble where only so many other people had seen it and it felt like it was mine. As time went on, I kept seeing articles and tweets about how "omg Ladybird is so relatable, like, I am Ladybird, omgggg". I will admit this is how I felt the first time I saw it, but boy did seeing other people feel the same way piss me offffffffff. I hate myself for feeling this way, because I was basically forcing myself to not like this movie, which led to me actively rooting against it during awards season. I'm so glad I went back to watch it in May because I was then able to A) recognize that I am a top notch asshole, but also b) because it's a really great movie, like really great. (pretentious alert!!!!) I remember reading the screenplay and having to stop about 10 pages due to a panic induced hissy fit because the writing was so amazing and I realized that it would be nearly impossible to write as well as Greta did. The writing is so beautiful and real, and somehow seeing it on the page makes it so much better.

In addition the the writing, the characters are so great. Ladybird is perfect because you're able to both sympathize with her and find her annoying as hell at the same time. Marion is so multifaceted and unique. I feel like you don't get to see characters like her in coming of age movies. I mean you do get to see bitchy moms, but they're never as well thought out as Marion is. The more I watch this the more I love her. She loves Ladybird so much but just doesn't know how to do it properly. This brings me to my next point, which is the relatability aspect. The movie is able to appeal to so many audiences and age groups through its characters. If you watch it in high school you feel like Ladybird. When you see it after you graduate you still feel like her, but you also acknowledge her flaws. Since I'm still young (sorry to brag) I don't relate as much to Marion, but I know that every mom is able to feel for and identify with Marion despite the way she may present herself in the film.

vroom vroom I'm in me mums car

Regardless of how I may have/do still feel about this movie, I still have a personal connection with it. This was the first rated r movie I saw on my own, so there's that. I remember seeing it when I was in the middle of procrastinating on my applications and sort of didn't think I wanted to go to school at all. I went with a (school) friend of mine and remember feeling so seen when we both shared the same "holy shit" reaction to the movie. Like Ladybird, I'm also from a mid-sized city and wanted to get up north for school, to "go where the culture is" (JK, we love you Charlotte). When I found out I got waitlisted at the NY school I wanted to go to, my mom met me with a "Ladybird got waitlisted" which was sort of the grossest thing to say ever, but it also really stuck with me. After that it became my mantra (disgusting, I know), and anytime I felt down I would say it to myself, I'm talking full on, in front of the mirror, Stuart Smalley style ("uh oh"-Al Franken). When I went on the tour of that school, I had to tell the lady at the front desk that I was on the waitlist, and her face was like "lol bitch you ain't gettin in", but I didn't care and gave myself my "ladybird was waitlisted" pep talk and smiled right back at her. When I was unpacking my dorom room, I vividly remember (unfortunately) sitting on the floor, bawling and putting snacks into a drawer, and telling myself that "Ladybird got waitlisted". This I assume was the catalyst for the mistake that was watching Ladybird later that night (to quote the pretty woman herself, Julia Roberts, "big mistake, huge"). And repeating that to myself ended up being a gross, but good thing. Stuff worked out for me in the end all thanks to Ladybird and Ladybird, and Greta ofc, duh.

I did mention in my Eighth Grade review that after seeing Eighth Grade I have trouble relating to Ladybird's character due to the generational differences between us. I relate to this movie on a more spiritual (vom) level, where as I can directly relate to Kayla's character on all levels. Regardless, I still love this movie, and I feel like I owe Greta a lot for making it (though not as much as BO, ha ha ha). I hate to use the b-word (beautiful), but this movie is it, and I hope you'd feel the same way. And also, fuck Kyle.

Ladybird gets 4.5/5 OK's