Poster for the movie Miss Bird
"The American Film Institute (AFI) announced the top ten films of the year, and Miss Bird was selected;
Time magazine announces top 10 performances of 2017: Hills Ronan topped the list with Miss Bird;
Golden Globe Nomination: Miss Bird was nominated for Best Musical/Comedy Film, and Hills Ronan was nominated for Best Actress;
Miss Bird was named one of rolling stone magazine's top 10 films of the year in 2017;
"Miss Bird" broke rotten tomatoes freshness records and became the most fresh movie with 100% freshness..."
Small town girl
The reference news network reported on December 26 that "Miss Bird" can be said to be a movie that can make almost all women in the 80s and 90s feel empathy. It does not have a complex historical background and feelings of the times – just like us in the era of peace, we seem to be peaceful, but our hearts may be extremely sensitive and rebellious. The calmer the reality, the more it arouses the urge to change itself. This film very purely portrays the story and characters through delicate portrayal, and presents the process of rebellious high school girls growing into confused young women to the audience.
Seemingly peaceful life
A little bird
"Is Lady Bird your real name?"
"Lady Bird is my own name."
The name, which is a very magical code name, is the beautiful expectation that parents give their children. The name can be you, but you are far beyond the width of a name. Heroine Lady Bird ("Miss Bird") – Her real name is Christina and "Miss Bird" is the name she gave herself. Bird – a small and fragile bird, but with the power to soar into the sky, is a symbol of freedom.
Miss Bird
The mother-daughter relationship between girls was unbalanced in any way: one wanted to hug, one wanted to escape. It is a watershed between reality and fantasy, and it is also a connecting line. In "Miss Bird", the role of mother seems to always stand in God's perspective, standing on the shore of reality and trying to take back the kite that flies too far.
At the beginning of the film, Miss Bird sits in the car and talks to her mother about her views on choosing a university in the future, mentioning her yearning for freedom and art, and her mother does not even bother to return, very bluntly and even very viciously breaking all her fantasies. Then there is the classic scene: the daughter unbuckles her seat belt and jumps out of the car amid her mother's incessant nagging, and her mother screams.
Sleep with your mother
For the next half of the storyline, Miss Bird has a pink bandaged plasterboard tied to her right arm. This shape is very metaphorical: a bird with folded wings is destined to grow up not so easily. Even with an injured arm, Miss Bird herself does not flinch throughout the film. Dragging a broken arm, she still seemed to be thriving in her own world. This contrast vividly shows Miss Bird's strong, independent, and even rebellious character.
Pink plasterboard on Miss Bird's (left) arm
The mother-daughter relationship is inseparable
Miss Bird's mother was a doctor with a strong personality, her father suffered from depression due to unemployment, and there was a "Gothic" brother who had a face piercing and worked as a cashier in a supermarket. The family's financial situation was not very good—at least it was a reality that her mother had identified;while Miss Bird's ideal of going to New York to study art was seen as unrealistic. In the film, there is a scene in which the mother and daughter choose clothes in the mall, and the picture seems sparse and ordinary, but the relationship between the mother and daughter game is shown very delicate and natural. The "clothes" of the mother and daughter are very different, and the two argue while choosing. From the dialogue, it seems to be an alienated relationship between the characters, but then the style of painting changes - a common appreciation skirt is found, and the two are closely linked again.
The daughter and mother had a "trick" at the door of the fitting room. Mom said, "All I want is for you to be the best version of yourself!" Miss Bird said, "What if I am the best of me now?" This dialogue is at the heart of the mother-daughter relationship throughout the film. Parents always want us to be the best we can be, but how afraid we are not to be what they expect to be.
Mother-daughter fitting room "trick"
Miss Bird is the directorial debut of Hollywood talent Greta Gerwich. Prior to that, she wrote and starred in the film Francis Ha. Gerwig excels at telling stories from a female perspective. "Miss Bird" is a perfect demonstration of Gerwig's ability to control the theme of adolescent growth — especially the girlish spirit: when she meets a boy who moves her during a school play rehearsal, she writes the boy's name under the bed edge of the bedroom. Such a subtle move can arouse great resonance among female audiences, who in her teenage years has not secretly written the name of her favorite person?
The film also has a heart-warming detail: the star is seen at the same time in different places, without knowing each other, but naming each other. There are countless romantic moments in Miss Bird, brilliant and short. When the love feels frustrated, the protagonist Miss Bird's freedom makes people feel that this character is so vivid and full of unique charm.
Gerwig's first feature film showed his ability to control the subject matter
My name is Christina
If the audience is immersed in Miss Bird's story and her own experience, it is inevitable that it is just a kind of "empathy". But several of my male friends also shared their viewing experiences. Many details support the characters, vivid, cute, and even rarely real, and the overall shaping is very powerful. In their opinion, the most impressive thing about Miss Bird was that she had been doing what she wanted to do.
Boyfriend empathy? Then find another one, or if it doesn't work, then live it yourself. Can't apply to a school? Then try another one, no matter how difficult it is, how do you know if you can't do it without trying? Everything she does is not necessarily what others like. Under the influence of reality, elders and friends, she has hesitated to choose. But, for better or for worse, isn't growth mixed?
Emotions feel frustrated
The film cleverly captures the details of the changes in the growth of the young girl in the small family, and the visual language also fully reveals the traces of the growth of the characters: cross out the name on the window edge and write another person. The passage of time also reveals a delicate beauty, a complete person. From the whole movie, we can see how a person knows himself and how to take the initiative to change his life trajectory and inner world. "Miss Bird" is not a vague member of the public, and even with experiences that can make most women feel empathy, she is still a completely new, independent personality and complete attraction.
Similarly telling the history of juvenile growth, unlike "Miss Bird", which focuses on growth itself, Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" shows more of the director's unique aesthetic of time. If "Miss Bird" is a butterfly change from the inside out, "Boyhood" is an outside and inward way to tell the growth, the surrounding changes affect and change the characters. The latter is the attitude of the passive observer, which can also be said to be partially objective.
Miss Bird dreams of New York
When Miss Bird finally arrived in New York as she wished, she began the college life of her dreams. She was instantly bound by confusion, confusion, and seemingly free ignorance. At this time, when someone asked for her name, she said, "My name is Christina." "Saying goodbye to Miss Bird, I also bid farewell to the simple, beautiful, unscrupulous life of the town. Calling back the names given by her parents seems to be the most reassuring thing for her after she successfully escaped the shackles. Looking at the sky, she still remembers the star of her first love, but she can never go back to that beautiful mistake.
Youth is sometimes like this. Girls, boys, or boys, are always gradually moving towards maturity and independence in the process of escape and pulling. Change is inevitable – what remains unchanged is that everyone moves forward with the hope given by their name.