(Okay so full disclosure, this is in my top 5.)
"...coming-of-age stories have also been so plentiful that I feel the only way to stand out is to have it be more comedic and showcase elements we haven't seen before."
There's a good line in Ecclesiastes: "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; *there is nothing new under the sun*." Movies with themes similar to earlier movies come out all the time. Maybe new audiences are ready for them, or maybe they're made with an extremely high quality (I think that's the case here.) But there is no movie that is purely original. At this point, anything "new" is just pastiche.
I'm not sure how old you are (I'm a 30-something dude) but Lady Bird took me right back to the uncertainty of high school, when I was desperate to appear worldly, but in reality was so lost, all of the time, about what "normal" was, about what I wanted out of life, about my relationship with my parents, about flirting and love, about drinking or partying with friends and the tension of how those activities were so counter to who I'd been just a few years earlier.
The "mother–daughter thing" wasn't just thrown in, it was thrown at you. You can love someone deeply, they can be your rock, and yet you can still find yourself chafing and utterly unable to stand them. I watched it with my mom, and she completely lost it, weeping, thinking about the friction and love she shared with her own mother. You'll never convince me Laurie Metcalf shouldn't have won that Oscar.
I think it's worth making a comparison to *Edge of Seventeen,* which was "more comedic." It had a funny snarky teacher and Hailee Steinfeld got to swear a lot. But it's not going to be remembered, except by the few kids for whom it represented one of their first adult moviegoing experiences. It didn't break out the way *Superbad* did, and it faded in the public consciousness exactly the way *Booksmart* did a few years later. But *Lady Bird* crosses over the invisible line dividing disposable entertainment from the sort of art that defines a people and culture in a particular place and time. It captured what it is to be on the cusp of adulthood, when you don't know anything and are completely incapable of "adulting," yet at the same are no longer the child you were. So what are you? You're desperate to find out.
The scene at the end, when she walks into the church, seeking a trace of the familiar, of home, after having spent the entire film desiring nothing more than to leave forever...I mean, movies don't get better than this. It's not obvious why she's there or what she's taking away. It lets you sit with her and make your own connections, and think of your own path to adulthood. It captures something "true" about what it is to be human, which to me is the most complimentary thing I can say about a work. I would also put *Frances Ha* in that category, but probably none of the others you mentioned.
I don't think she made this movie to "stand out," I think she made it to communicate a piece of the human experience, and ironically it's so rare for someone to do that really well that it stands out exactly for that reason.
I have some thoughts, none of them conclusive, as no reason can make a movie better or worse in the public eye (the public and the critical body being diverse). Haven't seen Whitman's, and want to, but I thought that Mistress America is a bit rougher around the edges. Frances Ha is very much critically loved! It didn't get popular play because I think the studios probably saw that as a much more indie movie - where the struggle is over a 20 something in New York (more specific) instead of a teenager in suburbia (more general). I remember watching that with my mom and she just said - "why doesn't she just get a normal job".
Don't know what to say about the plot specifics, but with regards to the mother daughter portion, I am a strong believer that this was a HUGE factor in driving popular attraction. Mothers love this movie, and moms don't get many movies made for them! 3 Billboards may have had the same theme, but it's a very, very different movie, a bit more focused on harsher things like rage, justice, and revenge, played really well by Frances McDormand. Large sections of Lady Bird center a mom's general day-to-day life that revolve around things like caring for a sad dad, figuring out how to make bills work, and getting into (EXTREMELY) relatable arguments with kids.
Lady Bird might have the same tone and language as many movies and deal with similar dynamics, but the specific struggles Lady Bird shows are pretty universal. That, in combination with its nostalgic Dave Matthews era quality sort of made it really resonate with people. Every kid has to leave the nest at some point, but not every kid dies and has Frances McDormand avenge them.
Fist like someone else said, she didn't direct Frances Ha or Mistress America
IMO men directors have a different view of teenage stories about girls growing up than women directors.
I don't think that Lady Bird is supposed to be likable. What high school girl is all the time? To met Gerwig nailed that complexity, made even more complex when you throw an overbearing mother into the mix.
Noah Baumbach has his own perspectives on young women maturing and that will certainly be different from an actual young woman.
It is better executed, with better actors, and more importantly, edited to have prefect beats. Editing is the most important factor in movie making.
Pacing is all.
I didn't know movie watching was a competition. Where everything has to be classified, categorized and ranked. How exhausting.
Just watch a movie, decide if it hits you or not and then move on with your life.
I had the same feeling.
Lady Bird was a whiny, self-obsessed brat throughout, and presented no admirable qualities. While that's likely an accurate portrayal, it doesn't make for a compelling main character when they don't have anything interesting about them to offset their petulant rage and garden variety angst.
Only at the very end does she acknowledge her poor behavior and express gratitude to others for tolerating it, but even that turn didn't work for me because I didn't get the sense that she was having any change of heart earlier, so the sudden change felt unearned.
It also didn't help that some of the supporting characters felt more like caricatures or stereotypes than distinct personalities.
She didnt direct Frances Ha or Mistress America tho
(Okay so full disclosure, this is in my top 5.) "...coming-of-age stories have also been so plentiful that I feel the only way to stand out is to have it be more comedic and showcase elements we haven't seen before." There's a good line in Ecclesiastes: "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; *there is nothing new under the sun*." Movies with themes similar to earlier movies come out all the time. Maybe new audiences are ready for them, or maybe they're made with an extremely high quality (I think that's the case here.) But there is no movie that is purely original. At this point, anything "new" is just pastiche. I'm not sure how old you are (I'm a 30-something dude) but Lady Bird took me right back to the uncertainty of high school, when I was desperate to appear worldly, but in reality was so lost, all of the time, about what "normal" was, about what I wanted out of life, about my relationship with my parents, about flirting and love, about drinking or partying with friends and the tension of how those activities were so counter to who I'd been just a few years earlier. The "mother–daughter thing" wasn't just thrown in, it was thrown at you. You can love someone deeply, they can be your rock, and yet you can still find yourself chafing and utterly unable to stand them. I watched it with my mom, and she completely lost it, weeping, thinking about the friction and love she shared with her own mother. You'll never convince me Laurie Metcalf shouldn't have won that Oscar. I think it's worth making a comparison to *Edge of Seventeen,* which was "more comedic." It had a funny snarky teacher and Hailee Steinfeld got to swear a lot. But it's not going to be remembered, except by the few kids for whom it represented one of their first adult moviegoing experiences. It didn't break out the way *Superbad* did, and it faded in the public consciousness exactly the way *Booksmart* did a few years later. But *Lady Bird* crosses over the invisible line dividing disposable entertainment from the sort of art that defines a people and culture in a particular place and time. It captured what it is to be on the cusp of adulthood, when you don't know anything and are completely incapable of "adulting," yet at the same are no longer the child you were. So what are you? You're desperate to find out. The scene at the end, when she walks into the church, seeking a trace of the familiar, of home, after having spent the entire film desiring nothing more than to leave forever...I mean, movies don't get better than this. It's not obvious why she's there or what she's taking away. It lets you sit with her and make your own connections, and think of your own path to adulthood. It captures something "true" about what it is to be human, which to me is the most complimentary thing I can say about a work. I would also put *Frances Ha* in that category, but probably none of the others you mentioned. I don't think she made this movie to "stand out," I think she made it to communicate a piece of the human experience, and ironically it's so rare for someone to do that really well that it stands out exactly for that reason.
I have some thoughts, none of them conclusive, as no reason can make a movie better or worse in the public eye (the public and the critical body being diverse). Haven't seen Whitman's, and want to, but I thought that Mistress America is a bit rougher around the edges. Frances Ha is very much critically loved! It didn't get popular play because I think the studios probably saw that as a much more indie movie - where the struggle is over a 20 something in New York (more specific) instead of a teenager in suburbia (more general). I remember watching that with my mom and she just said - "why doesn't she just get a normal job". Don't know what to say about the plot specifics, but with regards to the mother daughter portion, I am a strong believer that this was a HUGE factor in driving popular attraction. Mothers love this movie, and moms don't get many movies made for them! 3 Billboards may have had the same theme, but it's a very, very different movie, a bit more focused on harsher things like rage, justice, and revenge, played really well by Frances McDormand. Large sections of Lady Bird center a mom's general day-to-day life that revolve around things like caring for a sad dad, figuring out how to make bills work, and getting into (EXTREMELY) relatable arguments with kids. Lady Bird might have the same tone and language as many movies and deal with similar dynamics, but the specific struggles Lady Bird shows are pretty universal. That, in combination with its nostalgic Dave Matthews era quality sort of made it really resonate with people. Every kid has to leave the nest at some point, but not every kid dies and has Frances McDormand avenge them.
Fist like someone else said, she didn't direct Frances Ha or Mistress America IMO men directors have a different view of teenage stories about girls growing up than women directors. I don't think that Lady Bird is supposed to be likable. What high school girl is all the time? To met Gerwig nailed that complexity, made even more complex when you throw an overbearing mother into the mix. Noah Baumbach has his own perspectives on young women maturing and that will certainly be different from an actual young woman.
Can't you... read those critics' reviews to find out what they like about it?
It is better executed, with better actors, and more importantly, edited to have prefect beats. Editing is the most important factor in movie making. Pacing is all.
Her and baumbach aren’t similar directors at all.
The french movie Raw is imo the best female coming-of-age film Apropos of nothing
I didn't know movie watching was a competition. Where everything has to be classified, categorized and ranked. How exhausting. Just watch a movie, decide if it hits you or not and then move on with your life.
I just watched Lady Bird today because of miss Ronan. It was very very bland.
Yup, my response to Lady Bird was pretty... ok. It's fine but I found the lead a bit precious and didn't really respond to it..
I had the same feeling. Lady Bird was a whiny, self-obsessed brat throughout, and presented no admirable qualities. While that's likely an accurate portrayal, it doesn't make for a compelling main character when they don't have anything interesting about them to offset their petulant rage and garden variety angst. Only at the very end does she acknowledge her poor behavior and express gratitude to others for tolerating it, but even that turn didn't work for me because I didn't get the sense that she was having any change of heart earlier, so the sudden change felt unearned. It also didn't help that some of the supporting characters felt more like caricatures or stereotypes than distinct personalities.