Hollywood’s Greta Gerwig, Genius At The Core

March 28, 2021

Extensive is the list of female names of power brokers in the new Hollywood.

Forbes magazine wrote about it and while her name was not on their list yet, after her exceptional directorial efforts on the well-received film Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig is certainly becoming one of the more influential women in film entertainment.

Greta, born August 4, 1983 was raised in Sacramento, California.

She is an American actress and filmmaker. Now she can add director to her resume.

She first garnered attention after working on and appearing in what has been described as several mumblecore films.

New terms keep springing up and catching us off guard. Mumblecore is one of them.

Mumblecore is a subgenre of independent film characterized by naturalistic acting and dialogue (sometimes improvised), low-budget film production with an emphasis on dialogue over plot, and a focus on the personal relationships of people in their 20s and 30s.

Greta is evolving beyond that. Way beyond.

Between 2006 and 2009, she appeared in a number of films by Joe Swanberg, some of which she co-wrote or co-directed, including Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007) and Nights and Weekends (2008).

Since the early 2010s, Ms. Gerwig has collaborated with her partner Noah Baumbach on several films, including Greenberg (2010), Frances Ha (2012), for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination, and Mistress America (2015).

She has also appeared in the films Damsels in Distress (2011), To Rome with Love (2012), Maggie’s Plan (2015), Jackie (2016), and 20th Century Women (2016).

Our Nor Cal star has two solo directorial ventures, the coming-of-age films Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), both of which earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

That is quite a start.

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For the former, she received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, and for the latter, she was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Lady Bird is a 2017 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written starring an ensemble cast that includes Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Lois Smith.

Set in her hometown of Sacramento, the story’s setting, between the fall of 2002 and the summer of 2003, it is a coming-of-age depiction of a high school senior and her strained relationship with her mother.

Most likely leaning on some experiences from Greta’s own past where she attended St. Francis high school, her character Christine McPherson is a senior at a Catholic high school as well.

She gives herself the name “Lady Bird” and longs to attend a prestigious college in “a city with culture” somewhere on the east coast, despite her family’s financial struggles.

Her mother Marion often tells her that she is ungrateful for what she has.

Lady Bird and her best friend Julie join their school theater program, where Lady Bird develops a crush on classmate Danny O’Neill. This grows into a romantic relationship, and Lady Bird disappoints Marion by spending her last Thanksgiving before graduation with Danny’s wealthy family instead of her own.

The master reviewers at rogerebert.com praise, “The opening moments of “Lady Bird” accomplish so much so quickly, it takes your breath away. A mother and daughter are engaged in the time-honored tradition of the senior-year road trip to check out college campuses. As it concludes, the two smile at one another, sigh and wipe the tears from their eyes.”

They conclude, “It is also one of the better solo directing debuts by an actor in recent memory. Hardly a false step is taken by Greta Gerwig in her semi-autobiographical script that centers on Lady Bird’s final year at her rather progressive Catholic high school.”

We are not surprised at her prowess.

Francis Ha was a captivating film that engaged our emotions and surprised us, especially as we had low expectations coming in. It reminded us of a Woody Allen film with a modern female edge.

Others say Greta’s films tend to be based on her own experiences. In a behind-the-scenes video on the set of Lady Bird she expressed, “I tend to start with things from my own life, then pretty quickly they spin out into their own orbit.” She then presses her actors to incorporate their personalities into their performances as well, and says of her writing and directing, “it’s all about actors.”

Her works tend to have common themes: the growth and emotional maturation of the leading woman, and relationships among family members, friends, and significant others, with a special interest in female dynamics.

Characters are reportedly never villainized, and all are sympathetic.

She tends to imbue her films with a unique and specific deadpan sense of humor. Visually they also carry a very specific atmosphere – simultaneously having the warmth of looking back on something in memory and displaying things as they are, stripped of any sort of showiness.

Watching Greta’s work makes us want to peel back the layers of would inspired her creativity.

Here is one layer. She was raised a Unitarian Universalist.

Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion characterized by a “free and responsible search for truth and meaning“.

Unitarian Universalists assert no creed, but instead are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth, guided by a dynamic, “living tradition”. Currently, these traditions are summarized by the Six Sources and Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism, documents recognized by all congregations who choose to be a part of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

These documents are ‘living’, meaning always open for revisiting and reworking.

Unitarian Universalist (U.U.) congregations include many atheists, agnostics, and theists within their membership – and there are U.U. churches / fellowships / congregations / societies all over America – as well as others around the world.

The roots of Unitarian Universalism lie in liberal Christianity, specifically Unitarianism and universalism. Unitarian Universalists state that from these traditions comes a deep regard for intellectual freedom and inclusive love.

Congregations and members seek inspiration and derive insight from all major world religions.

The beliefs of individual Unitarian Universalists range widely, including atheism, agnosticism, pantheism, panentheism, pandeism, deism, Humanism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Taoism, Omnism, Bahá’i, and neopaganism.

That is fairly comprehensive and wide ranging.

So is her work which continues to garner praise.

The New York Times critic A. O. Scott described Gerwig as an “ambassador of a cinematic style that often seems opposed to the very idea of style.”

The team at faroutmagazine.co.uk praises, “Gerwig has an eye for cinema which is among the most unique in Hollywood, a factor that makes her one of the most revered contemporary directors.”

Impressive.

The group at denisonian.com add, “If you haven’t yet seen Lady Bird, now is the perfect time. Written and directed by Greta Gerwig, this movie is an example of female filmmaker genius.”

We think we get it. Kind of. Well, yeah, we do. Mostly. Sure we do (no mumblecore here).

Greta is off to an incredible start and, though it may not remotely be what is motivating her, we expect her to be on Forbes list of the most powerful and influential women in Hollywood in the very near future.

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