Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Lady Bird Blu-ray Movie Review

Not a sequel to "LBJ".

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 6, 2018

Turbulent mother - daughter relationships were pretty much inescapable for recent Academy Award voters in two of the so-called "major" categories, with both Actress and Supporting Actress nominees being culled from two films with just such a dysfunctional relationship at their core, Lady Bird and I, Tonya. I, Tonya was ostensibly based on “real life”, even if that reality could have probably been more accurately described as surreality, but Lady Bird is the brainchild of writer-director Greta Gerwig, now rather famously the subject of being singled out among “four men” when Emma Stone announced the Best Director nominees at the recent Oscar broadcast. While fictional, and therefore perhaps inherently allowed a little more leeway in terms of presentational style than something supposedly based on fact, Lady Bird has much of the same whimsy that has informed some other films Gerwig had a hand in writing, including Mistress America, another film featuring some “unique” female characters. Aside from the supposed "real life" vs. fictional element at play, there's another salient difference between the interpersonal dynamics between mother and daughter when comparing Lady Bird to I, Tonya, and that's in the simple fact that it's obvious that despite their obvious differences (which in large part actually spring from their similarities) Christine (Saoirse Ronan) and Marion McPherson (Laurie Metcalf) deeply care for one another.

As can be seen even by perusing the cover of this new Blu-ray release, there’s quite a bit of Catholic iconography running rampant throughout Lady Bird, including with an obviously intentional placement of a crucifix right between the “Lady” and the “Bird” when the title credit runs. It’s an interesting conceit, but one that I’m not sure is all that relevant to the actual underlying story, unless one takes the supposedly lemming like responses of the congregants as just another sign of the sort of conforming that Christine, who has dubbed herself Lady Bird (against her mother’s wishes, of course), is fighting against.

If Lady Bird were an anime, it could arguably be what enthusiasts of that genre would probably call a shōnen (or, to keep it gender specific, a shōjo), a story devoted to coming of age where school life is central to the unfolding of the tale. (I’m speaking in broad generalities, for you anime fans who are already writing your private messages to me.) Christine is a senior at a tony private (Catholic) school in Sacramento, though she and Marion are already checking out prospective colleges in the California state public school system. That search is happening despite Christine’s desire to move to the east coast, where “things happen”, though Marion tells her that hope is completely unrealistic, both due to Christine’s lackluster grades but perhaps more importantly due to the McPherson’s family precarious finances.

The dynamic between Christine and Marion is perfectly encapsulated in their first real interchange, one that takes place in the family car as the two drive back home from their visit to a college. The two begin relatively peacefully as they both listen to an audiobook version of The Grapes of Wrath (in an obvious reference to the very region they’re driving through), though things go pretty seriously off the rails almost immediately, with Marion taking Christine to task for any number of issues, including her perceived selfishness. Viewers of the Oscar broadcast saw this scene and its calamitous conclusion, which is both hilarious and horrifying.

Back at school, Christine and her best friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein) wend their way through classes, with both ultimately deciding to try out for the school musical, which is done in tandem with a nearby boys’ school. Mr. Stephen Sondheim must have gotten a nice royalty check considering the audition sequence, which features Christine belting out the rather difficult “Everyone Says Don’t” from what is arguably Sondheim’s most notorious flop, Anyone Can Whistle. (Kind of hilariously, at least for musical theater nerds like yours truly, the schools are performing another one of Sondheim's fairly infamous flops, Merrily We Roll Along, a show which is not so coincidentally centered around middle aged folks coming to terms with the dying embers of their youthful idealism.) Other auditioners, who also sing songs from Mr. Sondheim’s impressive oeuvre, include Danny O’Neill (Lucas Hedges), who almost instantly catches Christine’s eye.

While there’s a certain through line documenting Christine’s struggle to break free from what she sees as family imposed restraints, Lady Bird is really in essence a vignette driven enterprise that offers standout moments for Ronan and Metcalf, both Academy Award nominated for their performances. As such, the film kind of meanders from a narrative standpoint, offering temporary setbacks for Christine which are almost invariably overcome, in what might be seen as Gerwig’s probably commendable attempt to give things a more or less happy ending. That does tend to take some of the emotional impact out of things at times, especially with regard to an on again, off again relationship with Julie. At other times, though, the film’s very discursive tendencies tend to work in its favor, as in a subplot involving Danny that has a supposedly shocking moment that is soon enough ameliorated by Christine’s inherently nurturing nature. (This particular moment actually reminded me in a way of Mildred’s sudden change in demeanor in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri when her ostensible nemesis Willoughby suddenly coughs up blood.) Other parts of the story, like Christine’s ultimate involvement with a guy named Kyle (Timothée Chalamet) have potentially debatable dividends to provide.

In a way, though, all of the supporting characters end up being more or less irrelevant (relatively speaking, anyway), since the core of this story is the dynamic between Christine and Marion. It’s here that Gerwig really finds her most authentic voice as a writer and director, and the scenes between Ronan and Metcalf positively crackle with electric authenticity. My favorite moment is a “minor” one, with the two involved in their seemingly endless squabbling over various minutiae as they shop for a dress for Christine, a skirmish which is just suddenlty interrupted and completely dropped when the perfect apparel is found. It’s a wonderfully apt depiction of two people who can’t stand to be around each other some (maybe most) of the time, but who are inextricably bound to each other nonetheless.

Lady Bird Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Lady Bird is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. While this feature was digitally captured, it has been pretty aggressively tweaked in a number of ways, in an attempt to make what Gerwig has called in interviews and on the commentary included on this Blu-ray as a supplement "the look of memory". There are two interviews with Gerwig and director of photography Sam Levy which can be found here and here which I highly recommend to those interested in this film's rather unusual and pretty distinctive appearance. My favorite quote from Levy is that he didn't want "out of the box film grain", which is now going to be a mantra in my reviews (I'm joking, kind of). As can be seen in the screenshots accompanying this review, there is an at times pretty swarthy looking "grain field" swarming through the imagery, something that I found tended to actually mask detail levels at times, especially in the many dimly lit interior scenes. Perhaps even more interesting from a stylistic standpoint is the completely odd color grading employed (the previously linked interviews get into some of the choices on the part of the colorist). Weird, almost sickly, green and yellow tones predominate at times, which makes me wonder what Gerwig thinks "memory" should look like (that's another joke, kind of). All of this adds up to a truly unique viewing experience, but I have to say for me personally, it didn't really add anything meaningful to the story. Despite any qualms with stylistic choices, the disc offers no issues in terms of image instability or compression anomalies.

Lady Bird Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Lady Bird's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track gets an intermittent workout courtesy of scenes like the school musical or (more robustly) a party sequence, but a lot of the film tends to take place in the McPherson home environment, where typically only two characters are on screen simultaneously, something that keeps immersion limited to occasional ambient environmental sounds. Some of the school material has rather good surround activity, and some outdoor scenes also offer good placement of effects. Dialogue, score and effects are all rendered cleanly and clearly without any problems.

Lady Bird Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Writer / Director Greta Gerwig and Cinematographer Sam Levy


• Realizing Lady Bird (1080p; 15:42) gains its title from Gerwig's assertion that she considers herself more of a "realisiteur" (as the French phrase it) rather than a "director". This has some engaging interviews and good behind the scenes footage.

Lady Bird Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My hunch is my overall score for this and for the recently reviewed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri both being 4.0 will raise some eyebrows, but, somewhat similarly to what I discussed with regard to the Frances McDormand vehicle, I found Lady Bird hugely enjoyable while I also questioned whether it's the "instant classic" some folks feel quite strongly it is. I loved the beautifully rendered mother - daughter relationship here, but a lot of the surrounding material struck me as a little rote, even if it's informed by Gerwig's typically very sharp writing. Lady Bird has a really unique visual style which may not be everyone's cup of tea, but this Blu-ray disc offers excellent technical merits one way or the other. Recommended.