“Lady Bird”: Genuine moments of life that all awkwardly fit together

Richard Linklater received much-deserved praise for his experimental "Boyhood," which was shot over the course of 12 years, charting the growth of a boy as he grapples with life from ages 6 to 18.

"Lady Bird" could almost serve as that film's spiritual cousin in its latter years, as it details the matter-of-fact struggles of a young lady in her final days of high school and anticipating her jump into life afterward.

Crafted with care and laser-like emotional focus, "Lady Bird" trims away the protracted, profound moments of clarity and resolution to keep things in the moment, yet still narratively focused.

The film is set in 2002, when Christine "Lady Bird" (played by Saoirse Ronan) is preparing to graduate from her private Catholic high school in Sacramento, Calif., as her low-income family struggles to keep their heads above water financially.

Lady Bird has a bad case of senior-itis and can barely focus on the final days of school with her best friend Julie (played by Beanie Feldstein).

And despite her friendly terms with her father (played by Tracy Letters), her attempts to find common ground with her mother Marion (played by Laurie Metcalf) are far more difficult.

Marion is an overworked hospital staffer who does her best to provide for Lady Bird, even if her passive-aggressive approach is perhaps not the most nurturing, but she is clawing to keep order in a chaotic life of constant monetary stress. When her husband loses his job, the stress of hearing Lady Bird chirp about her East Coast college aspirations only adds to Marion's anxiety.

She is not a bad mother, and Lady Bird is no saint of a daughter, either.

They are just layered individuals, each with faults and strengths that can emerge at inopportune times. Director Greta Gerwig, an actress in countless films over the past decade, makes her second effort behind the lens here. She also directed a 2008 indie caled "Nights and Weekends."

Gerwig apparently culled from her own life here, and the entire film is marked by that personal touch. The film unfolds episodically, which can be difficult to settle into for those accustomed to more traditional narrative structures. But it also opens up opportunities for surprise, as we are never quite sure about the consequences of Lady Bird's naturally impulsive behavior. There are no epic narrative arcs, no cathartic revelations, just genuine moments of life that all awkwardly fit together in the messy puzzle of life.

In an interesting tangential tie to the area, one of Gerwig's films in 2011, "The Dish & The Spoon," was partially shot on location in Rehoboth Beach, at the former Finbar restaurant, which was owned by Jim Paslawski at the time.