Let’s get my gripes out of the way off the top. I didn’t hear anyone mispronounce Saoirse Ronan’s name last night, but I did catch an interview on the NBC Red Carpet where they goggled, “Is it true?  Was the Prom in the movie your very first one?”

You guys. Proms are not universal, and these kinds of questions are why people look askance at the entertainment media sometimes. Plus you already know she’s been a working actor for the last 10 years - isn’t missing the dance (which would be called a ‘ball’ in Ireland and which is more likely in university) kind of understandable? 

But it’s fine. It’s fine, and Saoirse had her ‘Mam’ on Facetime, so I’ll call that a wash. As for the rest of the night… 

It’s a lot. Lady Bird, Saoirse, Greta Gerwig – they’re all so entwined, and loaded. 

Saoirse Ronan deserved that win so much. You have likely heard conflicting things about Lady Bird, and I don’t disagree with criticisms of it but it hasn’t made me love it less. Lainey would say that’s because I am Lady Bird, or was in high school, and that’s a little too true for comfort. But outside of the bigger picture, that was a fully realized young woman. She had traits and habits and you could picture what she would do and be outside of the situations we saw. You lost yourself totally in the character. 

Most importantly, you never thought ‘oh, what a little Irish girl’. That was a Sacramento teenager through and through. 

 A lot of people have said to me “I just didn’t think [Lady Bird] was that big a deal,” and that’s fine. You don’t have to love it, but I don’t think anyone who watched it would deny that it’s a dense, fully-realized – and my personal drum to beat has been that we see coming-of-age stories about young men rewarded all the time, but the ones about women always seem to need some tragedy in them to be considered ‘worthy’. I love this one because it didn’t. 

Obviously the Hollywood Foreign Press agreed, because it also won best musical or comedy. Obviously it surprised and delighted everyone involved – more so because, you know, the writer and director wasn’t nominated for Best Director. The person who created the movie from scratch and brought it to fruition wasn’t nominated, but the movie itself is worthy of acclaim? Doesn’t that smell kind of wonky to you? It happened at the Oscars a few years ago, when Argo won best picture and Ben Affleck wasn’t nominated, but at least then the script was written by someone else and was adapted from a book/real life.  

To me the worst of it was the announcement: “Accepting on behalf of Lady Bird are producers so-and-so”. I get it, it’s a tradition. When a movie wins ‘Best Film’, there are 85 people and so those announcements are to let you know which of the suits you’re actually hearing from. But it was so much insult to injury. They couldn’t have told the announcer a couple of days before? “Hey if we win, the director speaks”? 

I’m no awards scholar, but this win blows things way open for the Oscars, and for the nominations. I don’t expect to be surprised by the director nominations – after all, the Academy is… changing, but still stacked with those trained in the ‘traditional’.  

But I will not stop loving the fact that a ‘girl’ story where no punches are thrown and loving Dave Matthews is a deep dark secret is keeping everyone guessing about what the biggest awards of the year are going to be. 

Saoirse Ronan’s Atelier Versace dress was so badass. Again – was it going to be part of her arsenal anyway? Someone get going on the ‘Anonymous stylists spill the stories of what happened in December 2017’ article, please?