Lena Dunham’s latest film “Catherine Called Birdy”, which is currently available on Amazon Prime, is a delightful comic coming-of-age tale about one plucky young medieval girl. As its heroine cheerfully bounces from one funny episodic moment to another, the movie attempts to mix some modern sensibility into its period background, and that is often amusing to observe even though we also often notice its artificial aspects.

Mainly set in some rural feudal territory in England around the 13th century, the movie quickly establishes a little comfortable world surrounding Lady Catherine (Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old noblewoman who has enjoyed her life and freedom as much as possible as your average plucky girl. At the beginning, we see her engaged in a big mud fight along with other kids in the area, and she does not mind at all about getting quite muddy just like others.

Catherine is also a smart girl who becomes more aware of how she will be limited more by her gender role, and, not so surprisingly, she is not particularly interested in getting married, but the situation becomes more serious for her due to a couple of reasons. First, her father, Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott), has been facing a considerable financial difficulty due to his thoughtless handling of the family fortune, and it looks like the only option for him is getting Catherine married to any suitor with enough money as soon as possible. Second, Catherine happens to have her first period experience, and that certainly makes her more eligible as a bride to marry.

Naturally, Catherine defiantly tries to distance herself from a series of possible suitors, all of whom are not so desirable to her in one way or another. Her father is understandably not so pleased about his daughter’s disobedience, but there is nothing much he can do except slapping her palm several times with a stick, and she remains stubborn as before.

At least, Catherine finds some comfort from several friends around her. There is a young goatherd who has been her best male friend, and we are not so surprised when he later tells her about why he has been content with being a merely good friend to her. In case of Aelis (Isis Hainsworth), the young noblewoman of a neighboring feudal territory, she is Catherine’s best female friend, and Catherine is delighted when it looks like Aelis seems to be drawn to her handsome uncle George (Joe Alwyn). He also happens to be looking for anyone suitable enough for him to marry after returning from the Crusade, but, what do you know, he turns out to be more practical than he seems on the surface.

In the meantime, the circumstance becomes a bit more serious when Catherine finds herself introduced to an utterly vulgar older man as her latest suitor. This time, her father is determined to push his daughter all the way to her eventual marriage even though he does not like tha filthy rich guy at all, and Catherine begins to wonder whether she should be his dutiful daughter instead of pursuing more life and freedom instead.

While never losing its lightweight tone, Dunham’s screenplay, which is based on the novel of the same name by Karen Cushham, keeps things rolling as bringing some depth to its broad but colorful characters. While Catherine comes to show more vulnerability behind her supposedly feisty appearance, several main characters in the story also come to show each own matter of heart along the story, and it is often touching to observe how Lord Rollo and his wife have maintained their loving marital relationship despite many problems including his incorrigible human foibles.

The movie sometimes loses its comic momentum as juggling a little too many elements around its heroine, but Catherine’s irrepressible spirit and personality holds its center well. Bella Ramsey, who drew our attention for her notable supporting role in HBO drama series “Game of Thrones” and then recently moves onto another HBO drama series “The Last of Us”, gives a likable performance which constantly sparks with vibrant charm and pluck, and it will be interesting to watch what this undeniably talented performer will do next in the future.

Dunham also assembles a bunch of good performers around Ramsey. While Andrew Scott effortlessly steals the show as Catherine’s flawed but amiable father, Billie Piper provides some gravitas as Catherine’s ever-patient mother, and Lesley Sharp has several good moments of sharp wit as Catherine’s caring nanny. In case of several other main cast members in the film including Joe Alwyn, Sophie Okonedo, Isis Hainsworth, Ralph Ineson, and David Bradley, they also have each own moment to shine, and Okonedo brings thoughtful warmth to a little nice scene where her character suggests the possibility of more life and freedom to Catherine.

On the whole, “Catherine Called Birdy” is enjoyable for its considerable wit and humor in addition to the game efforts from its cast member, and I enjoyed it more than Dunham’s previous film “Tiny Furniture” (2010), which was interesting to some degree but somehow did not impress me that much. At least, I agreed with others that Dunham is a new talent to watch at that time, and, though she was absent for a while mainly due to her acclaimed HBO comedy series “Girls” while also unwisely causing one controversy after another in public, she is still a good filmmaker as shown from “Catherine Called Birdy”, so I recommend you to check it out during your spare time.