When Christine McPherson auditions for the school play and is asked for her given name she says, “Lady Bird…I gave it to myself, it’s given to me by me.”

In the best coming-of-age story of the year Saoirse Ronan exceptionally portrays 2000s teen Lady Bird and all of her alluring yet relatable quirks and trials.

She is desperate to get out of Sacramento and move to New York for college despite her family’s financial troubles. At her Catholic high school, where she is unafraid to stir up some trouble, she tries to make the most of her senior year by appearing in the school play and attempting to increase her social status and finding love, sort of.

Seen with exceptionally moving shots of the dry Sacramento air, aligned with music to pull on heartstrings, Lady Bird’s mind and personality has a little something that can be found in every viewer who’s a bit outlandish.

Along the way in Lady Bird’s search for self discovery she risks losing some of the people she loves the most in her life like her best friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein), boyfriend Danny (Lucas Hedges) and her mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf) especially.

Marion and Lady Bird’s relationship is somewhat turbulent in the wake of Lady Bird’s father’s job loss and depression. They are extremely similar without even realizing it as they are both strong-willed, opinionated and loving. One scene they fight and the next scene they are out shopping together — a complex bond that arguably many mothers and daughters can attest to.

Ronan and Metcalf truly reveal the love and hate and the care and disregard between their characters’ relationship seen throughout the movie, which can be so relevant to the true reality between a mother and daughter.  

Writer turned director Greta Gerwig puts forth story that is heartwarming, edgy and artistic that is refreshing and wholesome to end the year. It seems like a given that “Lady Bird” will receive much critical acclaim and could very much be able to snag an Academy Award.