Lady Bird - Greta Gerwig (2017)

Do you like coming-of-age movies where a self-conscious teenage girl is surrounded by high school malevolence and simple and thick sleazebags finds her "inner-cool?" Well, you are in luck, my friend.

When you take a casual look at "Lady Bird", it seems formulaic, but it feels more natural than your typical cookie-cutter film. But the film has a voice that can't be dismissed as an element of any genre. 

"Lady Bird" is the story of Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan), a young wallflower who feels like at the age of seventeen, she is already stuck in a never-ending rut. And she craves adventure. More than anything, she wants to get the hell out of Sacramento.

Of course, her best chance is college. She's set on New York and is willing to almost anything to get there.

Standing in her way is her mother (Laurie Metcalf), who, no matter what, is determined to make her daughter go to a Catholic school. 

Watching the bittersweet relationship Lady Bird has with her mother is compelling. The two of them have excessively strong wills and fight constantly. And they turn on a dime, from the gentle way she holds a crying Lady Bird to punishing her by refusing to talk to her.

The unconditional love between Lady Bird and her father, Larry (Tracey Letts) makes the family dynamic so fascinating to watch. He serves as the one constant in her life.

Aside from her home life, the tension between Lady Bird and her two romantic interests make for some of the very best dry and ironic comedy I've seen in a while.

Gerwig's spirit and tone is quickly becoming an important voice to be reckoned with.  She has matured since her collaboration with Noah Baumbach on his masterpiece, "Francis Ha." I'm not discounting "Frances Ha", in fact it's one of my favorite film of the decade. "Lady Bird" shows a fresh, new voice we haven't heard before.

Greta Gerwig's directorial debut stands on the shoulders of the work she has done with Baumbach, but she has a striking, raw authentic voice that's rare in modern cinema.

And Saoirse Ronan is so endearing, she could easily become this generation's Molly Ringwald.

I've seen the film twice now and it still feels crisp.

On its face, "Lady Bird's" story should feel ordinary. What makes it great is the characters Gerwig has created and their quirks and dialogue that is freshly built for each one differently. 

And Saoirse Ronan is so endearing, she could easily become this generation's Molly Ringwald.

I can see Gerwig with a career as a kind of indie John Hughes. But I don't see her sticking to any kind of mold. Her writing is too fresh to fall into that trap.

Since 2012's "Frances Ha", which she co-wrote with Baumbach, I've been curious to see what we can expect from Gerwig and if "Lady Bird" is an indicator of things to come, the future of indie comedy is bright indeed.