Sony Pictures
I’m not too familiar with the story of Little Women. Growing up I thought it was a story about women that were very tiny women. I was still excited to see this movie since it was directed by Greta Gerwig. Lady Bird was one of my favorite movies of 2017 and the cast that was involved with Little Women got me excited to see the movie. I have seen a lot of Oscar-worthy films over the last month and Little Women might be my favorite of them all.
Little Women tells the story of the March sisters as they navigate their lives during the Civil War. The March sisters are all very different, but they stand by each other in difficult times. The film is adapted from the popular story by Louisa May Alcott and has been adapted many times in Hollywood. The four March sisters are played by Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Saoirse Ronan, and Eliza Scanlen.
What makes Little Women work so well is the relationship centered around the March sisters. Each sister is given a developing story to where you care about their situation and their story. The storyline for Little Women is nonlinear and jumps back and forth between the present day and in the past. By doing this it makes the individual characters feel stronger by themselves. They may be strong individually, but you absolutely love the sisters as a group. Florence Pugh is having a great year with her roles in Fighting With My Family and Midsommar and she is by far my favorite actress in the movie as Amy. She is the youngest of the four sisters and is easily the most outgoing. She is quick-tempered and whines often when she doesn’t get her way. Pugh’s smile is contagious, and I admired her energy when she was younger in the film. She keeps the film quirky and upbeat. Her character growth is something that shines in the film as she wants to become the most successful of the four sisters. The other three sisters are all entertaining in their own way and their performances are all outstanding. When Greta Gerwig brings all four actresses together, she brings out the best of them.
Gerwig also does a great job of having smooth transitions between past and present moments. The moments when the March sisters are all living together and when they are younger is much brighter than the moments when they are grown up and separated. The scenes involving the March sisters as adults and having a family looks much darker than when they were kids. Another thing that made the transitions clear was the characters. The characters are more mature when they are older, especially Amy.
Timothee Chalamet stars as Theodore ‘Laurie’ Lawrence, the March sisters’ neighbor. He works so well with the sisters, that he feels like their brother at times. Their chemistry is charming, and he builds strong relationships with Amy and Jo (Ronan) that are progressed throughout the movie. He feels very comfortable in his role and I am glad he worked with Gerwig again.
I felt so happy while watching Little Women. I constantly had a smile on my face even though there were emotional moments towards the end of the film. Those emotional moments felt earned and were heartbreaking to watch because of how the film was structured and the relationships that were built in the film.
Little Women is one of my favorite films of the year. Since it has a few Christmas scenes within it, I will add it to the movies I watch every December. It gives me another reason to watch this film. Greta Gerwig has shown us that she is a talented director and is deserving of plenty of awards and opportunities to direct more films. I hope she works with Saoirse Ronan and Timothee Chalamet again because the three of them are perfect together.
Little Women has a run time of 2 hours 15 minutes and is rated PG for thematic elements and brief smoking.
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My favorite story as a young girl growing up!
Me too!