With the exception of the 1994 version of Little Women, very few movies can make me cry for a sustained hour and a half. But Lady Bird is one of them. For ladies of a certain age (let’s say “old millennials,” aged 29-31, ballpark) who grew up with dial-up and flip phones and theater camp—but not Instagram—Greta Gerwig’s portrait of what it’s like to be young and smart and stubborn and mean to your mom because you love her so much is a painful, cathartic exercise in the shock of recognition. (After the credits rolled and I stopped crying, I texted my mom and told her to go see it.) As for Gerwig, I didn’t think she could make a more relatable movie after Frances Ha, but Lady Bird is proof that Noah Baumbach was, AMAZINGLY, the weaker link in that collaboration. I have decided that Greta Gerwig is the voice of my generation, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. (dir. Greta Gerwig; currently in theaters)
The Portland Mercury‘s Super Cinema Strikeforce™ had a bunch of other favorite movies in 2017, too! Check them all out here.