Little Women - Review

Little Women

“Little Women” is a novel by author Louisa May Alcott which was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. Alcott wrote the books following the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy—the novel details their passage from their childhood to womanhood and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. Director - Actress Greta Gerwig takes on the challenge of bringing Alcott’s much heralded work to cinema screens again in her 2019 adaptation also called “Little Women”. This is the eighth film adaptation of the 1868 novel with this effort staring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel, Chris Cooper, and Meryl Streep.

REVIEW: I have not read the book. So, with a running time of 2:15 minutes my general expectations going into the theater was to see and hear a story filtered per usual through the standalone prism on whether it was effectively executed through the cinematic medium of directing, writing and acting.

Now, I had a pretty good sense of the historical period and backdrop it covered and yet I must admit for the first 40 minutes I was thrown off balance, even a tad disoriented by both the whirlwind cadence of some of the dialogue interplay especially between the sisters, as well some difficulty in general keeping an accurate sense of exactly where the sisters were collectively in the various stages of their personal development i.e. teenagers to adult women. But with those technical flaws aside, I still found “Little Women” to be a joyously, merrily, at times exuberant and effervescent, other times sad and despondent, but in the end an abundantly purposeful cheerful frolic. A pleasantly enduring examination of a rare women on the precipice of boldly flourishing for its historic period, as well as being a relevant guide for all women today.

And while “Little Women” was told with much delicacy on its edges it still manages to effectively and critically look at the forged strength of biological bonds and relationships, especially between female siblings while also simultaneously witnessing them as part of a much broader burgeoning historical  moment where women began navigating on their own desires, with the alternative of not acting on their deep primordially passions was a guarantee of a less interesting even soulless life. For them, fail or succeed, Jo and her sisters were emblematic of women’s new open self-determination where the alternative starkly potentially assuredly them to withering away like some laconic leaf on a vine, succumbing to all things predetermined – predestined with the rare uncontrollable exception of randomly being lucky enough to being beautiful to “marry well” (financially).

“Little Women” is mostly about Saoirse Ronan “Jo March’.  A character who in fact did not stoically except things as they were nor was afraid to defy. With positivity she never outwardly catered to conventional thought for herself or by others by playing it patriarchal safe or accepting long-standing antiquated norms. Some of the same norms still with us today, where perceptions and moral traditions still try to confine women to a life of unquestioning obsequiousness and servile servitude exclusively to the needs of men and male society.  

Mostly all of these narrative points come to full fruition in the second half of the film. Largely delivered in a meaningfully smart and audacious feminine way on the acting prowess of an Oscar Nominating worthy performance by Saoirse Ronan. But sometimes inspite of all of her talents on full display as our guide, even her well intentioned journey of her “Jo” to simply wanting to be seen for her talents, her wisdom, her needs, her creativity, and her aspirations, the direction and screenplay by Gerwig still managed at times to get terribly bogged down by its over flowing swaths of niceness, sweetness, lavishness and goodness. So much so at times that the film with its cuteness began to “cloudy up” my empathy, even  to the point of confusing me and me self-asking just how flawed society for women was back then.

With the look and feel of some of Winslow Homer’s wintry forest and summer beach paintings scenes coming to life, there is a lot of buzz for “Little Women” to garner numerous Oscar Nominations next January 2020. And while it will probably not make my top 10 list it assuredly has enough nostalgic appeal to showcase a time where women began to securing their own voices of wanting more from life than just being married.  A life where the sand in their hourglasses stopped flowing downward, rather started flowing upwards and beyond to higher loftier pursuits with the possibilities of having real individual happiness that could be endless and filled with new adventures and even newer dreams to come.

3.50 Stars