Film Review - Little Women (2020)

Little Women is based off of the novel but this time Greta Gerwig who wrote and directed Lady Bird steps into both roles in adapting the book and directing the film, the story concerns the life of the March sisters Jo (Saiorise Ronan), Amy (Florence Pugh), Beth (Eliza Scanlen) and Meg (Emma Watson) as they go through life in civil war era America with all the ups and downs they bring.

I was very keen for this movie mainly due to Ms Gerwig taking it on, I really liked Lady Bird in early 2018 and was keen to see what she would do next but Little Women had already been adapted by Gillian Armstrong in 1995 with a great cast all its own so could this movie do a good job or would it just sit in the shadow of the Armstrong film.

Well this is definitely a new and fresh take on this material and I adored it, watching this movie felt like someone giving me a great big hug the entire time and there are some reasons why:

- Firstly I have to talk about Ms Gerwig’s direction and scripting here, the way she adapts this story is a very fresh and modern take that plays around with the overall structure of the story itself but it really makes the storytelling and characters feel real and relevant to the entirety of the film instead of Jo just dominating everyone and the other Sisters falling into the background that is not the case here each of them get story arcs all their own and it really makes the film come alive.

As for her direction its pretty good but I thought her direction in Lady Bird was better as watching that film I felt this strong, powerful voice emerge in a way that felt confident, assured and ready to roar with all its might whereas here the direction really serves to highlight how well the book was adapted for a new generation and honing in on the idea of owning your story which I really loved.

- Secondly the performances here are wonderful, Ms Ronan for someone so young has given one great performance after another and that is no exception here her Jo is someone that you can’t help but fall in love with she’s warm, feisty, wears her heart on her sleeve and reminds me now that I think about it of Belle from Beauty and the Beast someone who wants so much more to this provincial life even if it feels somewhat out of reach.

Ms Pugh as Amy continues her good work and makes what could have been a very unlikeable character someone who you can watch and understand, Ms Scanlen is good as Beth as well while Ms Watson finally gets to shed the Hermione Granger typecasting I feel has shadowed her since the Harry Potter films and I really enjoyed that.

As for the other performances Mr Timothee Chalamet is pretty good as Laurie though at times he comes across as a bit of a dick, Meryl Streep and Laura Dern who you either love in movies or you don’t are very good here while I also enjoyed Mr Chris Cooper in his small role though I also loved seeing Mr Tracy Letts again after loving his work as Henry Ford the second in Ford V Ferrari last year.

- And lastly there is some great craftsmanship on show here mainly Nick Houy’s editing and Alexandre Desplat’s score, the editing work here does a great job of not letting the non linear structure run away from Ms Gerwig which it does have a habit of doing at times under Mr Christopher Nolan while Mr Desplat’s score feels very classical but also modern at the same time and it really highlights the film well.

And so that was Little Women and after the bitter disappointment of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker this movie with its warm cuddle was the perfect tonic, its warm, sad, heartfelt and I adored every moment of it, 4 and a half out of 5.