Tonight's movie was "Lady Bird" (2017), starring the excellent young actress Saoirse Ronan. At first glance, if you have seen the movie yourself or are familiar with it's storyline, it might not seem like the type of flick Your Intrepid Reviewer would have an interest in. In a nutshell, it's a coming of age tale about a teenaged girl who is heading off to college. But it was also nominated for several Academy Awards, and that - combined with having Ronan as it's star - made me interested enough to have a look.
A quick note on Saoirse Ronan : She starred in a movie called "Brooklyn" a couple of years ago in which she gave an Oscar-worthy performance. She hasn't made a lot of films but has garnered a lot of attention at a young age, and she is going to be an actress to watch as her career develops. Her performance, and that of Laurie Metcalf (of "Rosanne" fame) are the two main reasons that "Lady Bird" rises above slice-of-life feel-good indie cinema.
The movie takes place in Sacramento, California, where writer/director Greta Gerwig was raised. She is an alumni of Saturday Night Live, and while the film is not a comedy, it does have a light, sitcom-type feel for much of it's first half, which is a series of quick-cut vignettes designed to move the plot forward through Lady Bird's final year of Catholic High School ("Lady Bird" being the name the protagonist has "chosen" for herself, in a move of adolescent rebellion against her mother and her given name).
She is artistic and somewhat nerdy, and boy crazy. Her family is poor, compared to some of her private school classmates. She is emotionally dependent on her Mom, but also intimidated by her. Her Dad is depressive but is the "good cop" of the family.
There are a few best friends in the mix, and boyfriends, and Catholic School hijinx, and small town boredom and envy, and Lady Bird's longing to escape to the East Coast, and to an Ivy League University where, she imagines, culture and hip identity must reign supreme.
To Gerwig's credit, she shoots down all of these stereotypes. Escape may be necessary for a young person wanting to establish her own identity, but home is where the heart is. The main conflict is between a strict but loving Mom and the independent-but-dependent Lady Bird, and - as an adult who remembers being a teenager, and still is on the inside - I (and you) can feel your way, along with Lady Bird, through the emotional twists and turns of the film. It has a "we've all been there" feel, even if you aren't an eighteen year old girl.
"Lady Bird" is short and sweet but it hits all the right notes. Two Definite Thumbs Up, therefore.
I haven't much else to report. T'was a cool and overcast day, chilly enough tonight where I had to don a jacket on top of my sweatshirt to take my evening walk at 9pm. I am very dismayed at the news that the Department Of Justice has caved in to the wannabe dictator Trump's "demand" - his actual word - that the DOJ itself be investigated over the so-called claim, by the profoundly criminal Trump and his minions - that the Mueller investigation is a fraud.
Folks........my fellow Americans......there is going to come a time, very soon, when somebody is going to have to stand up against this criminal, or else we are going to find ourselves in a situation where we will have a real crisis in this country, because of the cult of personality of one man.
Where has this happened before? Hmmm......Nazi Germany comes to mind. So does the Soviet Union.
There is going to come a time where either somebody will stand up to this very bad man, or else we are gonna lose our country. It's not a joke, and Trump is our threat from within, the threat that has been warned against by wise men throughout history as the most serious to any sovereign nation.
Today, the Justice Department caved in to him. If you read your history, this is how Hitler came to power and finally to ultimate authority in Germany.
This is no longer funny or a sideshow.
Somebody is going to have to stand up to this monster and stop him.
But who?
I read history, and I see the fate of nations throughout history. It is a mistake to think that the United States is immune to the will of an evil, driven person. It is also a mistake to underestimate just how bad a guy Donald Trump is. But now that the freaking Justice Department has knuckled under to him, we have to wonder - who is going to stop him?
Who will stop Donald Trump from destroying The United States Of America?
Anybody? /////
I am betting on the USA.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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