'Little Women' A Review

Little Women is a period drama based on the classic novel of the same name. The film primarily follows Jo March(Saoirse Ronan) and her four sisters to a lesser degree as they come-of-age in Civil War era America. The story begins with Jo in New York as a struggling writer and then cuts back and forth in time showing the Marsh sisters as they grow up and apart.

The cast is stacked with some incredible talent however some actors are more suited to their roles than others. Ronan is a decent Jo although the pacing is so fast she doesn't have quite enough time to hook us with the characters ineffable charm and coming off the tail of 2017's Lady Bird this characterization isn't quite different enough from that recent Oscar darling. Timothée Chalamet as March neighbor Laurie may be the current tween heartthrob but his prepubescent look and his emo posturing make for a baffling and ineffective casting choice. Florence Pugh plays a empathetic Amy but at times the time jumps don't properly convey her age and so her behavior comes across as a cruel adolescent rather than a petulant child. Significantly more successful is Eliza Scanlen as Beth, one of the first portrayals that turns her from a two dimensional martyr to a reserved yet soulful human being. The supporting cast- Laura Dern as Marmee, Chris Cooper as Mr. Laurence, Tracey Letts as Jo's editor- fair better in giving more authenticity and balance to their respective characters. The fault though isn't on the actors it is the bold but ineffective structure.

The biggest issue with the film is it's biggest choice, it's non-linear structure. Since the success of 1994's Pulp Fiction the non-linear timeline became mainstream and oft repeated. Which is great, it's a different and often compelling way to tell a story but it can also be perfunctory or a crutch. In this case the timeline as well as the fever-paced editing zip around the March sisters lives with such veracity big moments are raced by and through and because the cast remains constant there is no clear sense of time passing or what time we are in at any given time. Part of the pleasure of the story is it's pastoral and sweeping pace and scope. This iteration is editing with the speed of a Tony Scott picture and the rare times it actually holds for an entire scene or conversation it is such a relief you wish they would have scrapped the entire time jumping conceit.

The 1994 Little Women is a near perfect movie but the novel is the kind of property that inevitably gets remade every generation. This most recent update is serviceable, pulls the necessary heartstrings, and has some moments of real inspiration but ultimately cannot overcome it's structural weight to really soar. It is also fair to wonder why now, why in 2019 do we need this relatively faithful adaptation complete with virtually no diversity and with only cursory attempts to upend the more regressive marriage messaging from the book. That's not a condemnation just a question, with a film that is receiving as much ecstatic praise as this one it's fair to wonder if it's totally appropriate.

Rent It.