Thursday, January 30, 2025

Catch-Up Watch: Little Women (2019)





Watched:  01/29/2025
Format:  Amazon, I believe
Viewing:  First
Director:  Greta Gerwig

Somehow I have never seen any version of Little Women, and I've never read the book.  As a testament to how much I dislike movies having a Christmas release date, when I saw the cast line-up for this - and who was directing it,* I was very clear as I expressed to Jamie "hey, I want to see that", but then we absolutely did not see Little Women (2019) with its Oscar-pleasing release date as the holidays became busy.

Well, a couple weeks ago, in the same conversation wherein Jamie mentioned wanting to see Brooklyn, she also mentioned Little Women, and I was on board.  And then, days later!, M.Bell was giving me grief for having missed it, and it seemed like a sign.  

And, holy sugar smacks, that is a fantastic flick.  

I'm not shocked, as everyone I've spoken to who'd seen this version had expressed enthusiasm for the movie.  My understanding is that substantial liberties were taken with the book, which is fine.  The novel was released in 1868.  Time and narrative move on.  It's a safe distance and enough versions of the story that adhere to the book exist that it's okay to use it to say something speaking to modern audiences.

Told in a decidedly non-linear timeline, and aware of certain elements of which the audience might be well aware thanks to pop-culture, somehow Gerwig makes it work anyway - by making the coming tragedy the rails on which the plot rests.  

The cast for the film is eye-popping.  Saoirse Ronan stars as Jo, our lead.  Emma Watson, her elder sister.  An up-and-coming Florence Pugh plays the problem child, Amy.  And Eliza Scanlen, Beth.  Laura Dern plays the mother, and an already-excellent Timothée Chalamet plays the wealthy boy next door.  Also expect Meryl Streep as the spinster Aunt and Chris Cooper as Chalamet's grandfather.  Heck, when father finally shows up in the last 1/3rd, it's Bob Odenkirk.  It's just one of those movies that caught people on their way up or knew how to use stars as supporting players.

While the dialog feels lifted from a 19th century novel, as a testament to the acting and direction, it never has that stilted or forced vibe like a regional play doing its best with what's on the page.  Characters don't fall into the default presentation of 19th Century folk worried about manners so much they're afraid to move or that their costumes are wearing them - instead they seem at ease and at home in their environs.

For those not in the know - the story told by Louisa May Alcott in the novel of Little Women is considered semi-autobiographical, covering the lives of a family of four girls, a mother and house-keeper, during and after the Civil War.  Each girl is distinct in her wants and needs.  Father is away during the war - in the film at least, an ardent abolitionist.  And, meanwhile, life in Concord goes on but with new struggles.  Using the non-linear narrative, most of the story takes place in flashback as Jo returns home from her teaching and writing career in New York to sit with Beth, her ailing sister.

There's a bit of hero-worship inherent in the telling of the story, written and directed for screen by Greta Gerwig.  And, thus, the film is a bit meta, re-imagining Jo not just as a creation of Louisa May Alcott, but bringing more of Alcott into Jo's career as a writer, and, indeed, I recall it was a bit controversial when the film arrived that Jo (in the form of Saoirse Ronan) directly looks down the barrel of the camera while stating certain facts and discussing how the book she's writing might end.

It's absolutely a choice and not one made to make anyone comfortable, including the producers.  It's 4th wall breaking, even as it occurs on screen in character, and a bold choice.  For dudes who would no doubt complain about "unrealistic" depictions of women in this era (a) learn some history, chump, and (b) at least glance at Louisa May Alcott's Wikipedia entry before you put fingers to keyboard.  And then make your way up Bloom's Taxonomy and see if you can't put the pieces together why this, why now?  And what do the final scenes mean after all we've learned?

Unlike Brooklyn, this is a movie for which I have no notes.  Sure, it's built on an American classic that has already stood the test of time and influenced an extraordinary amount of writing in the years since.  But Gerwig's writing and direction just work for me.  This movie is a @#$%ing delight.




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