Little Women (2019)

[LWFS]

You remember this story from such films as Little Women (1917), Little Women (1918), Little Women (the Katharine Hepburn one), Little Women (the color one with Liz Taylor, Margaret O'Brien, and Janet Leigh, Little Women (the Winona Ryder/Christian Bale one), and more radios, plays, radio plays, and BBC serials than the supermarket has... um... juice brands. Also, I think it was a book.



This one's adapted/directed by Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), and stars Saoirse Ronan, Hermione, The Streep, and the girl from Midsommar/the forthcoming Black Widow. Does it make you happy as a cricket? Or would you rather take coffee than compliment this one right now?

[cal sharpie]

Went into it with no expectations but found it charming. Saiorse Ronan was terrific. I had never read it or seen any of the various versions so the story was new to me. I did like how they adopted the life of Louisa May Alcott into the story.

[LWFS]

CRAZY charming. The meta stuff helped make the movie for me. Gerwig makes really interesting choices, and is getting much stronger as a filmmaker.



Ronan is the kind of actress who elevates terrible material to memorably-good, and stuff that's good, she takes to special places. She's great in this. (I liked Chalamet, too, in the oft-thankless role of Laurie.) I was slightly less hot on Watson-- who was amiable enough, but seemed dropped in from a different family-- and Pugh, who had the unenviable task of playing 12 as an adult.