The novelty and charm of Greta Gerwig, the darling of the “life-size” era, seen in “Lady Bird”

Depicting the real life of girls from a casual perspective

The power of reality in this movie is very much at play in the undifferentiated and transitional period of adolescence, a so-called ``chuunibyou''-like sketch of the chaotic beginnings of life. I feel like I'm torn between the edgy culture that has inspired me and my humble self, and I'm still in the process of developing.

For example, before the argument with my mother that I mentioned earlier, I was crying with my mother while listening to a tape reading of Steinbeck's classic novel ``The Grapes of Wrath'' on the car stereo. Also, Christine still loves hit songs by Alanis Morissette and the Dave Matthews Band that were popular when she was a girl, and she was hurt when boys who liked her songs called them lame. On the other hand, her room is decorated with Riot Grrrl items (feminine punk bands that emerged in the 1990s) such as Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney , and you can see the seeds of her ideology in them. However, people are saying things like, ``The only interesting thing about 2002 is the sequence of numbers,'' and they haven't developed enough awareness to view the previous year's ``9/11'' as a political topic. I didn't really have enough knowledge, so I secretly went to ask my older brother, ``Who is Jim Morrison?''

“Lady Bird” ©2017 InterActiveCorp Films, LLC.

As I was writing this, my body felt itchy because of all the things I had learned myself. I'm sure that if you just change the proper nouns, many people will feel like it's their own story. This “something” goes beyond gender differences. For example, there's the silly everyday scene of Christine having fun talking about masturbation with her fat best friend. Isn't this the template for a virgin movie? That's what I thought reflexively, but that's actually not the case; it's just that past movies have never properly portrayed the lives of girls from such a bonkers perspective.

Teen movie masterpieces such as John Hughes' ` `The Breakfast Club '' (1985/Director: John Hughes) and ` `Pretty in Pink' ' (1986/Director: Howard Deutch), There have been many masterpieces of youth films depicting self-conscious heroines, such as `` Ghost World '' (2001 / Director: Terry Zwigoff) and ` `JUNO '' (2007 / Director: Jason Reitman), but `` I feel like ``Lady Bird'' has updated those lineages all at once. As mentioned earlier, this film is based on Greta Gerwig's own experiences in adolescence, but instead of drowning in her private nature, she calmly objectifies her as a "life-sized" archetype, using a standard framework to neatly portray her. It is also wonderful that they are aiming to turn it into a fictional version. This is the new standard for youth films. And Christine will eventually grow up to be a brave and wonderful woman like Greta Gerwig today.

Text: Naoto Mori

Film critic, writer. Born in Wakayama in 1971. He is the author of ``Cinema Garage: Children in the Ruins'' (Film Art Publishing), and edited ``Movies of the Zero Years+'' (Kawade Shobo Shinsha), among others. He regularly writes for magazines such as Weekly Bunshun, Asahi Shimbun, TV Bros., Men's Nonno, Kinema Junpo, Eiga Hiho, and Cinema Today.

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"Lady Bird"

Nationwide roadshow from June 1st (Friday) at TOHO Cinemas Chante and other locations

Distribution: Toho Towa

©2017 InterActiveCorp Films, LLC.

Merie Wallace, courtesy of A24