The most revelatory thing about Lady Bird is how much it resembles, tonally if not visually, Frances Ha. That film, directed by Noah Baumbach, starred and was cowritten by Greta Gerwig. It's a lovely film that bears little resemblance to Baumbach's usual caustic, enervating output – including his subsequent collaboration with Gerwig, Mistress America. That Lady Bird feels like the… read more!

Writer/director Gerwig opens her adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's autobiographical novel with a quote from Alcott herself: "I've had lots of troubles, so I write jolly tales." It reads as a semi-apology for the film to follow, as if Gerwig is telling her 2019 audience, "I realize we live in an angry, cynical time, and yet here I've gone and… read more!