The film follows Saoirse who plays high school senior, Christine, more commonly known by her self given name of "Ladybird". The film explores themes of love, coming of age, friendship, individuality, and frustration- I feel in the most relatable ways. The film immediately starts by showing us the two characters most central to the film, Ladybird and her mother sharing some lovely moments before shortly being disrupted by one of their arguments. This is a real insight into their relationship even just within the first 30 seconds of the film. The next is shots of her school life, thrusting us into Ladybird's world. She is sat receiving a lecture from a sister of her school. It's interesting that although Ladybird's character is often extremely argumentative and stubborn especially in the first scene between her and her mother, the next glimpse we get of her is actually of the more understanding and respectful aspects of her personality which I think was clever of the film makers as that already cements in our minds that she isn't a troublesome child rather just a normal teenage girl with complex emotions. I feel like throughout the whole film the way that the film expresses peoples emotions is done really cleverly. There is always a laugh paired with emotional scenes to provide contrast but also so once the emotional part is done with, we jump right back into the story which I think allows for more ups and downs throughout the narrative whereas a typical film has maybe two longer emotional scenes, Ladybird has many which makes it feel like were seeing much more of her life than we normally would in a typical hollywood film.
The Aesthetics of the film in general are absolutely beautiful. It still has the small scale indie film look but with the benefit of a big budget. Some of the shots are truly beautiful some because of the cinematography and some because of the colouring- a perfect example of production and post production work complimenting each other. It's strange too because the film has a vintage feel and vibe to it but it was only set in 2002 and I think maybe because I lived through then, as well as going to Catholic school and essentially just being a female, the whole film has a lovely warmth and nostalgia to it both visually and through its vibes. I'm not sure if this is just me accidentally being able to relate a lot to this character or whether it was intentional of the film makers. I'm guessing the latter.
Overall this was a stunning film which portrayed the complexities of the teenage mind stuck where it doesn't want to be. It was so nice to see a film like this gain so much well deserved recognition. 10/10 must see.
The Aesthetics of the film in general are absolutely beautiful. It still has the small scale indie film look but with the benefit of a big budget. Some of the shots are truly beautiful some because of the cinematography and some because of the colouring- a perfect example of production and post production work complimenting each other. It's strange too because the film has a vintage feel and vibe to it but it was only set in 2002 and I think maybe because I lived through then, as well as going to Catholic school and essentially just being a female, the whole film has a lovely warmth and nostalgia to it both visually and through its vibes. I'm not sure if this is just me accidentally being able to relate a lot to this character or whether it was intentional of the film makers. I'm guessing the latter.
Overall this was a stunning film which portrayed the complexities of the teenage mind stuck where it doesn't want to be. It was so nice to see a film like this gain so much well deserved recognition. 10/10 must see.