Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE/ARTS
Saturday 4 November 2017
Greta Gerwig comes of age

with directorial debut 'Lady Bird'

by JAKE COYLE Metcalf — but none more school film, Lady Bird's story
AP Film Writer so than this one: Gerwig — one of the bittersweet
NEW YORK (AP) — Greta is an exceptional, fully thrill of fumbling toward a
Gerwig has been an ac- formed filmmaker, right out much-yearned-for future
tress in 25 films, a co-writer of the gate. — isn't told in isolation. Her
on five and co-director "She nailed it in the way relationship with her mom,
of one. She's assembled that she did because she's an overworked nurse, is
wardrobes, done makeup incredibly open to people strained. The movie's work-
and — thanks to her 5 foot- and characters and plac- ing title was "Mothers and
9-inch height — held the es," says Ronan, speaking Daughters" — a conflict "as
boom mic. She has, in a by phone from London. old as the hills," sighs Ger-
sense, been building up for "One of the reasons why wig. "To me," she says, "that
In this Oct. 6, 2017 photo, Greta Gerwig poses for a portrait in a long time to her directo- she's such a fantastic sto- was always the central love
New York to promote her film, "Lady Bird." rial debut: "Lady Bird." ryteller is because she's in- story of the film."
"I was accumulating my credibly sincere. Everything "The movie is a bit of a Tro-
10,000 hours," Gerwig said that comes out of her, jan horse, in a way," says
in a recent interview in a whether it's on the page or Gerwig. "Around the mid-
tucked-away room at Lin- when she acts or when she dle, it catches and you kind
coln Center. "When I fin- directs, it only comes from of realize there's something
ished this script, I thought: the most genuine place." very aching and sad at the
You're still going to learn Why is it that Gerwig, at core of it even though it's
things but you're not go- 34, has made the leap to funny and fast-paced. It's
ing to learn anything more directing so flawlessly? It about young people but it's
by not doing it. Whatever could be that she was a just as much about the oth-
learning happens now is writer from the start. Her er generation. It's about this
going to happen by doing most recent scripts were whole community. It's not
it. I just decided to take the "Frances Ha" (2013) and just this pinhole of this teen-
leap." "Mistress America," both age girl. I've always disliked
It's at this moment while co-written with Noah Ba- the coming-of-age title
contemplating the culmi- umbach, with whom Ger- given to it. Every coming-
nation of her professional wig has been in a relation- of-age story in life is equally
life that a famished Gerwig ship for several years. Even the story about the parent,
first spies her lunch. "Oh my her acting — simultaneous- the person who's letting go.
goodness it's a sammy," ly natural and self-aware It's secretly as much the
she exclaims — a revela- — has, as Baumbach has mother's movie as much as
tion quickly followed by said, carried with it some- it's her movie."
another. "Oh my feet are so thing "authorial." After first Skyping, Gerwig
dirty from standing outside Gerwig is also a proud cine- first met Ronan at the To-
barefoot." phile. Claire Denis's "Beau ronto Film Festival in 2015
For Gerwig, it comes natu- Travail" first awakened her where they did a late-night
rally that the most earnest to cinema as something read-through of the script,
inner ambitions can ap- more than theater-on-film. with Gerwig reading ev-
pear, from the outside, a "I thought, 'That is its own ery character but Lady
little funny, too. country,'" she remembers. Bird. She came away so
Gerwig's "Lady Bird," which During production on "Lady certain that the "Brooklyn"
opened Friday in New York Bird," her email was over- actress was ideal that she
and Los Angeles, is a loosely run with screen grabs she delayed the movie a year
autobiographical coming- snapped of relevant films. to fit Ronan's schedule. The
of-age story about a high- A sampling of inspirations: meeting, Ronan says, was
schooler named Christine the low-key naturalism of giddy and giggly.
with the self-proclaimed Mike Leigh, Agnes Varda's "It was like two teenage
nickname "Lady Bird" (Sao- "Cleo From 5 to 7," Eric best friends that went
irse Ronan) who aspires Rohmer's blocking, How- away for the summer then
beyond her middle-class ard Hawks' dialogue ("I got back together again,"
Sacramento life. From Ro- make talkies," says Gerwig), says Ronan.
man Catholic school, she "America Graffiti" (shot in Ronan, who has just finished
dreams of New York or at nearby Stockton, Califor- shooting "Mary Queen of
least "Connecticut or New nia), Chantal Akerman's Scotts," only recently saw
Hampshire, where writers rendering of a woman do- the film, going — despite
live in the woods." ing housework in "Jeanne her general anxiety of see-
The film — richly detailed, Dielman." ing anything she stars in —
shrewdly observed, alto- "Plainness with a purpose with several best friends.
gether a beauty — has al- never gets rewarded the "We sobbed all the way
ready found some of the way it should," she says. through," said Ronan. "I was
best reviews of the year, "Our catchphrase for the so, so nervous going into it.
placing it among the early way the film looked was: We had at least two glass-
awards-season favorites. 'Plain and luscious.'" es of white wine before we
It boasts numerous revela- A short description of "Lady went so we were definitely
tions — including the per- Bird" tends to undersell it. on the vulnerable side.
formances by Ronan and While it has the basic frame- especially for moms and
her fictional mother, Laurie work of a teenage high- daughters.q