In every example where resolution or a character epiphany occurs, you can point to how Gerwig undercuts those moments in ways that less honest, conventional movies would.

Lady Bird combines wisdom and tenderness, humor and grace. It's light-footed without being lightweight. And it captures, with great feeling, the turbulence of a girl growing up. I can't recommend it enough.

Greta Gerwig's directorial debut, Lady Bird, is the millisecond of possibility, the speck of unflinching nerve, which might only occur once in our lives.

"Lady Bird" is a cornucopia woven with striking candor and filled with delightful oxymorons artfully composed to challenge taboos and stereotypes.