Little Women - Review

This generally isn't a movie I would go out and watch, nor a movie I would recommend. However, taking my own personal tastes out of the equation, Little Women is a solid enough movie.

I often talk about the two sides of my brain when watching a movie. There is the film school brain which looks at the directing, cinematography, acting, production design, and different film making techniques. Then there is the film lover side of my brain which focuses more on the emotion and the feel of the movie. How the film affects you and the emotional responses it provokes.

From a film making stand point, this is a well made movie with great performances across the board. The production design is really impressive, especially since this is a period piece. The cinematography is really great too. While not as impressive as something like 1917, there are quite a few shots that warrant a second of extra appreciation from the subconscious.

But much like Ad Astra, the film making was top notch and would get an A+ on a film school report card, but looking at it in terms of a general audience member, I found the film hard to follow sometimes in terms of story and resistant in terms of emotional connection to the characters.

The film is told through two different timelines. The present day and 7 years in the past. While I have no problem with films being told out of order or in any way that is not the conventional linear structure, but it needs to be extremely clear what timeline we are in. The film would often jump between timelines and I got flat out lost. When the movie is on the train chugging along and I am still in the station chasing after it, it's hard to get a sense of what is happening on the train (character development, story elements, etc.)

In terms of really getting invested into the characters, I found that difficult sometimes because for a large portion of the film, the characters would speak to each other but allow no breathing room between other lines of dialogue. As soon as one character stopped talking, IMMEDIATELY, someone else made a remark, and so on. It was just constant noise. However, when the film moved along and got more emotional, it allowed time for characters to breathe and let emotions actually play out. Too bad that wasn't the case for the beginning of the movie.

Also, this film wasn't as preachy as I thought it would be. While yes, some monologues about a woman's role in society are there, but it doesn't get pretentious and men are not made the enemy. Even the "evil" publisher isn't a woman-hating biggot. He was just simply a product of the times. I like movies that can spread the message of equality without having it be preachy.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Little Women. Is it a movie I would recommend or watch again, not really, but I can see why the "elite critics" are raving about this movie.