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maltatoday SUNDAY 4 MARCH 2018 44 This Week CHRISTINE 'Lady Bird' MacPherson (Saoirse Ronan) is tired of her native Sacramento. In her final year at a local Catho- lic High School, she yearns to set up shop somewhere more "cul- tured", though a bohemian career powered by a stint in a high-flying university feels like little more than a pipe dream, given the cash- strapped status of her beleaguered parents, Larry (Tracy Letts) and Marion (Laurie Metcalf). Joining the school's theatre programme along with her best friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein), Christine be- gins to widen both her roman- tic and social circles, and slowly starts to reconsider some of her priorities, and her assumptions about Sacramento, with whom she appears to have a relation- ship closer to love-hate than out- right hate. Writer-director Greta Gerwig, who cut her teeth on collabora- tions with that other American indie cinema mainstay, Noah Baumbach, creates a familiar set- up of characters and journeys, but what's worthy about the film is that it makes no generic choic- es. This is a semi-biographical story concerned with emotional truth and nostalgic ref lection; it isn't just a boilerplate example of the "high school drama". Coupled with some subtle but masterful photographic choices – cinema- tographer Sam Levy shoots the film to resemble a perpetual 90s late-afternoon in spring – the writing is similarly shorn of ex- cessive drama; characters like the 'head Mean Girl' Jenna (Odeya Rush) and pompous pseudo-in- tellectual love interest Kyle (Call Me By Your Name's Timothée Chalamet) aren't demonised – just portrayed as being part of the typical high school tapestry, littler humans who are likely to morph out of those roles soon enough. Our main focus is of course Lady Bird herself, and Saoirse Ronan's performance is a quiet triumph. Making a big deal of an ac- tor pulling off a regional accent and attitude is a facile critical tic, but there is something about the resolutely Irish Ronan feel- ing like a fully lived-in member of the Sacramento community that strikes the viewer as nothing short of inspiring. The thing is, that anything short of that may very well have spelled doom for the project, given how 'Lady Bird' being a natural part of her given geo-social landscape – rail as she may against the idea – is an inte- gral part of the emotional weave of Gerwig's project. Unassuming but entirely ab- sorbing, here's a film whose 'chill- out' vibe actually brings it closer to worthiness than any other, more histrionic counterparts. The verdict Lady Bird is a tender and genu- ine coming-of-age story that deli- cately balances the autobiograph- ical with the universal. Gerwig and Ronan work in perfect tan- dem to deliver up a snapshot of a fragile time with verve, humour and humanity. In a time when the representation of female voices – and their associated stories – is something constantly yearned for and discussed, Gerwig's directo- rial debut delivers and antidote that's culled from the heart, rath- er than any sense of forced 'po- litical' expediency. To be enjoyed and savoured. IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Black Panther (3D) (12A) 10:30, 14:30, 17:30, 20:45 The Greatest Showman (PG) 10:25, 13:35, 15:55, 18:15, 20:45 The Darkest Hour (PG) 15:50, 18:30, 21:10 Fifty Shades Freed (18) 10:30, 13:55, 16:15, 18:40, 21:00 Phantom Thread (15) 20:40 Maze Runner: The Death Cure (12A) 10:35, 14:30, 17:45 The Shape of Water (15) 10:20, 13:30, 16:05, 18:40, 21:15 Valletta Living History (U) 10:00, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15, 13:00, 13:45, 14:30, 15:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Black Panther (3D) (12A) 11:10, 14:00, 15:30, 17:00, 18:20, 20:00, 21:10, 23:00 Coco (PG) 11:50, 14:05, 16:20 Fifty Shades Freed (18) 14:10, 16:25, 18:45, 21:15, 23:35 Finding Your Feet (12A) 11:20, 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40 Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (12A) 11:45, 18:35, 21:10 Lady Bird (15) 14:05, 16:15, 18:30, 20:40 Lover For A Day (12A) 18:40 Maze Runner: Death Cure (12A) 11:25, 14:20, 17:55, 20:50 The Greatest Showman (PG) 11:25, 14:05, 16:20, 18:40, 21:00, 23:45 The Mercy (12A) 14:05, 16:25, 18:40, 21:00 The Shape Of Water (15) 14:30, 18:00, 20:35, 23:15 The Winter's Tale (PG) 15:00 Under The Tree (TBA) 20:35 Winchester (15) 14:15, 16:25, 18:35, 20:50 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Finding Your Feet (12A) 11:05, 13:35, 16:00, 18:25, 20:45 Fifty Shades Freed (18) 10:45, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 The Shape Of Water (15) 10:40, 13:30, 16:05, 18:40, 21:15 Black Panther (12A) 10:45, 14:00, 18:30, 21:15 12 Strong (15) 10:30, 13:15, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 The Mercy (12A) 11:00, 14:00, 16:15, 18:30, 20:50 The Greatest Showman (PG) 11:05, 13:45, 16:05, 18:25, 20:45 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ LADY BIRD ★ ★ ★ ★ LADYHAWKE ★ ★ ★ LADY VENGEANCE ★ ★ LADY MACBETH ★ LADY OF THE NIGHT FILM By Teodor Reljic Coming of age in Sacramento LADY BIRD (15) ★ ★ ★ ★ Quiet triumph: Irish actress Saoirse Ronan pulls off a subtle but masterful performance in Greta Gerwig's directorial debut Written and directed by American indie cinema maven Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird is an honest, affecting and charming female-centric coming-of-age dramedy that plays like a beautiful tonic for our toxic times Parenting angst: Ronan and Metcalf have a tumultuous mother-daughter relationship