I’ve had lots of troubles, so I write jolly tales.
Greta Gerwig really knocked me out with Lady Bird; I was expecting a lot from it, just based on Gerwig’s formidable talents as previously displayed in her work with Noah Baumbach. I’d always suspected that she was the real talent in that duo and Lady Bird proved me right in spades. So I was as excited for this adaptation of Little Women as I’ve ever been for an adaptation of Little Women; okay, so that’s not saying much, but I went in hoping to get knocked out all over again and Gerwig, and the talented group of people she collaborated with on this movie, managed it.
The cast here is really incredible and they’re all working at or near the top of their respective games. Saoirse Ronan has, in only the last couple of years, very sneakily become my favorite actress of her generation, my favorite actress to just watch work. She’s always fascinating and her performance as Jo is one of her best. Florence Pugh, an actress I flipped for back with Lady Macbeth, gives her second great performance of 2019, embodying Amy over a period of years with some of the best body language acting I’ve seen in ages. Emma Watson is perhaps as good as she’s ever been here and Eliza Scanlan, an actress who is new to me, has probably the hardest role of the four March sisters and she absolutely kills it, no spoilers. Laura Dern is an absolute wonder as the mother of the family. I’m once again tempted to say this is maybe her finest performance, an absolutely precise turn. On the male side of the equation, Timothee Chalamet proves that he’s not just a Star, but also a really fine ensemble actor with his deeply emotional, but always generous performance as Laurie. Chris Cooper is even better than he usually is, and he’s usually great, as the kindhearted Mr. Laurence. Tracy Letts, always a joy to see on screen, is wry, charming and funny as Jo’s publisher. James Norton has a rather thankless role, but he absolutely nails it. Was I a little pulled out of the movie when Father March finally returned home and it was Bob Odenkirk? Look, I didn’t know he was in this and I’m not going to lie: yes. Yes, I was. Only for a moment though.
But let’s talk about Gerwig’s writing here which is, I think, one of the finest literary adaptations I’ve ever seen. This is a film that is about being both incredibly faithful to and a modern spin on the original novel. You wouldn’t think that would be possible, but I’m here to tell you that it is. I’m a huge fan of the novel and speaking as a fan of the book, I can say that this movie is faithful in all the right ways and it also picks exactly the right ways to tweak the book. Changing the structure of the book by placing us in two different time frames gives the story energy and emotional depth in a way that even the original book didn’t. And, while I’m not entirely sure that the trick Gerwig pulls at the end is as perfect as the rest of the movie is, it’s just a very problematic section of the book and I think Gerwig does as deft a job handling it as anyone could.
Other than that, this is really a kind of perfect movie. Okay, fine, Alexandre Desplat’s score is pretty mediocre too, but it’s not distractingly bad. Just sitting in the theater, the moment to moment experience of watching this movie was a pure pleasure; something about Gerwig’s style and her voice just really get to the pleasure centers of my brain – I had much the same experience with Lady Bird. This genuinely is a brilliant film and what Gerwig has done is rescue the March sisters from the stuffy times of the past. One of the best things about the novel is the degree to which you just want, as a reader, to hang out with the Marches. Gerwig has duplicated that element of the novel and even enhanced it. The March sisters are the coolest gang around. Little Women is great, transporting filmmaking. 4 stars.
tl;dr – a great cast working at the top of their games bring to life one of the best literary adaptations ever; a pure pleasure from start to finish. 4 stars.