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New at The Pivotonian Cinema

Lady Bird
Nostalgia is strong with this one: not only does Lady Bird hark back to American independent cinema’s turn-of-the-century glory days, it’s set in 2002, where Californian Christine “Lady Bird” (it’s her given name, as in it’s the name she gave herself) McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) is struggling with school, boys, her parents – especially her mother (Laurie Metcalf) – and a strong sense of self-possession that butts up hard against a world busy with other things. Writer-director Greta Gerwig nails every emotional detail – there hasn’t been a film this spot-on about mother-daughter relationships in ages – and constantly finds laugh-out-loud moments in her unerringly accurate depiction of teen life’s mundanity. Ronan (who’s great in everything) outdoes herself in making an offbeat teen feel achingly real, while Metcalf (also reliably excellent) matches her with ease. Lady Bird has a vividness few films of any stripe can match; for once the hype is well deserved.