Movie Review: 'Lady Bird' and 'Last Flag Flying' soar high

A24

"Last Flag Flying" and "Lady Bird" are two movies set in the few years proceeding 9/11 and how the social landscapes mold their varied and complicated characters. It's as much about these characters going through their own journeys as it is how we dealt with the greatest act of terrorism ever committed on our shores. Both films are pretty subtle about using that tragic event as a plot point instead opting to delve into the societal impact it had on our behaviors. These films are at times laugh out loud funny and equally heartbreaking. 

Lady Bird (2017, directed by Greta Gerwig. U.S.A., English, Color, 93 minutes) "Lady Bird" in its most basic form is a teenage coming-of-age film. It's a familiar subgenre, but some in the category are more interesting than others. This film, the directorial debut of Greta Gerwig, combines the whipper-snapper appeal of "Juno" and "Ghost World" with just the slightest dash of "Napoleon Dynamite" to round it out. Saoirse Ronan is the titular character who is smarter beyond her years and yet just basic enough for her posh Sacramento Catholic School upbringing in 2002. She clashes with her opinionated mother (Laurie Metcalf) and is adored by her father (Tracy Letts) as she navigates her young life with confidence, with friends, some lovers and a wicked sense of humor.

"Lady Bird" is a special little movie in the same vain as "The Florida Project": No big frills, but effective and meaningful storytelling about interesting, rich characters. Ronan and Metcalf are fabulous together as the usually bickering, always endearing mother and daughter. Their characters are complex enough to not understand each other and simplistic enough for us to comprehend why they act the way they do. Conflicts about love and social status is what divides them, even when these are the two issues that make them alike. Lady Bird wants to fly and live in the now (and east coast) while her mother grounds her in truth and shelters her. This is a refreshing debut about being a teenage girl and I don't know who couldn't adore this film. Its humor and style is so adaptable to the audience that a girl seeing the film with her best friend could see it differently than if she saw it with her mom. "Lady Bird" will really tap into how much you love the people who may love you back even more.

Rating: A

Last Flag Flying (2017, directed by Richard Linklater. U.S.A., English, Color, 124 minutes) In this psuedo-sequel to "The Last Detail", Larry (Steve Carell) asks his former Vietnam veteran pals Sal (Bryan Cranston) and Richard (Laurence Fishburne) to bury his son, a United States Marine who died fighting in Afghanistan. These three men couldn't be any different. Larry is so quiet and reserved as he deals with all of the heartbreak he has endured while Sal is the party animal that can't be tamed and Richard is a preacher. It's a lively mixture of conflicting personalities that prevents the film from being a constant downer.

I was quite surprised by this movie because it had such engrossing characters, all fractured in some way as they climb out from regrettable events in Vietnam and dealing with a new, unpopular military conflict. "Last Flag Flying" could have been a non-stop cycle of anti-war, anti-government messages, but it isn't. (Not to say that those views don't pop up here and there, mind you) This "road trip" movie is about the journey to a final resting place for our own emotions and the paths we've taken in our life so far. Persons don't ever forget what war has done to them, and its the veterans who can see what it will do to the generations after them. We get angry with them about what this country has done, and we laugh and cry with them along the way. This was a wonderful film that was propelled by the earnest performances of its three leads. 

Rating: A-