Lady Bird

"Like most girls raised in faith, or otherwise in a town where the coolest spot to hang out is a parking lot, seventeen-year-old Christine (Saoirse Ronan) — who only answers to her self-christened nickname Lady Bird — steers moments in an effort towards evidence. She pictures herself as a girl in a movie and she knows when to cut."

"A story about letting go as much as coming of age, Lady Bird, directed by Frances Ha’s Greta Gerwig, exquisitely renders the complex, funny, turbulent love between mother and daughter, which is to say, the way desire can feel like betrayal."

"The kind of modest, miraculous low-budget gem that takes on a life of its own."

"It’s a winsome bit of autobiography that rings with bittersweet truth, though some navel-gazing solipsism does creep in."

"A sweet, deeply personal portrayal of female adolescence that's more attuned to the bonds between best girlfriends than casual flings with boys, writer-director Greta Gerwig's beautiful Lady Bird flutters with the attractively loose rhythms of youth."

"Lady Bird doesn’t exist as a twee indie movie construct, it feels thrillingly real and deeply personal, every single beat ringing true."

"A symphony of perfectly observed adolescent awkwardness and the heartbreaking bravery it takes some kids just to face another day of not fitting in."

"A reminder that no genre is played out when there's a new artist around to see it with fresh eyes."

"Lady Bird is well worth your while; she certainly won me over."

"The film abounds with pinpoint insights into its mildly rebellious heroine's hunger to shed the restraints of home and Catholic school and bust into an independent life, and does so with a wealth of keenly observed detail."

"A deeply funny film that still manages to grapple with heady emotional territory."