Lady Bird 2017
Greta Gerwig's solo feature directorial debut (after co-directing with Joe Swanberg), premiered at Telluride in 2017 and set in 2002 Sacramento: a Catholic-school senior trying to get out. Sean and Amanda take it as their coming-of-age pick and their one Gerwig slot, standing in for a whole mid-2010s cohort. Cast they keep returning to: Saoirse Ronan (a Golden Globe win, one of her five Oscar nominations with no win), Laurie Metcalf as the exhausting, exhausted mother, Tracy Letts as the warm father, plus Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Lucas Hedges, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Lois Smith. Threads: it's really a movie about class and a second city, the Chalamet/Kyle 'A People's History' bit, the Dave Matthews 'Crash' scene, the Sondheim and Alanis needle drops, and the voicemail ending that refuses the Hollywood reconciliation. A24's biggest hit at the time at roughly $70 million; five Oscar nominations, zero wins: screenplay to Get Out, supporting actress to Allison Janney, picture and director to The Shape of Water. Amanda's near-miss she couldn't fit on the list: Frances Ha.