Lady Bird - 5 nominations

Best Picture, Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Evelyn O'Neill
Actress in a Leading Role, Saoirse Ronan
Actress in a Supporting Role, Laurie Metcalf
Director, Greta Gerwig
Original Screenplay, Greta Gerwig

Lady Bird is the coming of age story of a high school senior finding herself.  She fights with her controlling mother, tries on personas and activities, and explores different friendships and sexual experiences.  There is something charming about this film in which a strong teenage character follows her own mind, sometimes to success and sometimes to failure, but the mistakes and the missteps somehow still feel ok.  Her relationship with her mother which is at once contentious and loving, feels familiar to anyone who has ever been a teenage girl (or known one!).  Mother and daughter see the world through the same eyes, while Lady Bird is also trying to be her own person.  Saoirse Ronan plays Lady Bird perfectly (and with a perfect American accent, I might add), and I loved her wide range of emotions, sometimes played in a single scene.

There are wonderful supporting characters in this film, and Laurie Metcalf is brilliant as Lady Bird's mother.  This is partially because her role was drawn so well in the screenplay, but also because Metcalf's talent is immeasurable - she is good in everything she does.  (Timothee Chalamet, nominated for Call Me By Your Name is another of those terrific supporting roles, which is a coincidence because these two films have so much in common.)

The movie is solidly good.  Really good.  It spoke to me.  As you know, I wish the Academy would return to 5 Best Picture nominees, and if it did, this would be one of the films that likely wouldn't make the cut.  It's exciting to see more women nominated (though I would have chosen Dee Rees for Mudbound over Greta Gerwig for this film, not that women have to swap out for each other), and Gerwig's hand is very clear throughout this film.  In fact, having been raised in Sacramento, Gerwig very specifically decided to have this be the first film to give attention and love to that city.  Greta Gerwig is one of those Hollywood people who just decided to take her career into her own hands - she writes, she directs, she acts, she doesn't wait for someone else to decide when she should be allowed to participate (and you should see one of her earlier films, Frances Ha).  Very much like Lady Bird herself.