Re-Watch Weekend #2 - Labyrinth (1986) and Lady Bird (2017)

“This is not my real hand!”

“Is it too pink?”

This week, we sort of unintentionally picked two coming of age stories told through different lenses.  The one my wife picked was told through the eyes of the selfish teenager who needed to learn how to accept her baby brother (Labyrinth), and mine was told through the eyes of the selfish teenager that needed to learn how to accept her overbearing mother (Lady Bird).

Labyrinth was like a fever dream of 80’s nostalgia…George Lucas, Jim Henson, and a heavy amount of drugs which I assume went into the planning for this film.  Even still, it was a great ride, and I sort of miss the days where actual Muppets were used instead of CGI nonsense.

“Didymus and Ambrosius” – The Spin-off we all deserve. “Didymus and Ambrosius” – The Spin-off we all deserve.

The only real problem I had with it was David Bowie’s awkward dream-romance-whatever with Jennifer Connelly’s obviously underage character.  But the fun was there, the message was sound, and again, I wish we got more of Didymus and Ambrosius!!!  Also – the Bog of Eternal Stench….it literally had burps and farts coming from it.  “SMELL…..BADDDDD”, indeed!

Lady Bird on the other hand, while technically a comedy, packs an emotional punch for anyone that has lived through the miscommunication and ill feelings that brew from having a strong willed parent and child butt heads.  God knows I do. 

This movie was Greta Gerwig’s coming of age story just as it was “Lady Bird’s”, perhaps in more ways than one.  I may have never read Little Women, but I sure as hell went to see it when I saw she was attached to that movie.  She gives women characters believable arcs that don’t just ‘exist’ in some male dominated world, but at the same time – she makes her films enjoyable to all, even if they’re centered around female relationships.  I wasn’t a girl growing up in Sacremento in the early 2000’s, but I was able to relate to this story on a personal level. 

Sometimes, a call home is all you need.

I’m sort of glad we broke these two up over the course of two nights.  While they are both coming of age stories, they handle that situation is very different ways.  One was a silly, 80’s, puppet filled David Bowie vehicle, and the other was a ‘from the heart’ love letter to a filmmaker’s childhood.