Review 719: Little Women (2019)

                                                                                                                   I didn't think we needed another adaptation of Little Women, but here we are and I'm surprised and delighted to say that it got made and that Greta Gerwig got to put her own spin on the beloved classic.

In Gerwig's take, the beloved story of the March sisters Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Amy (Florence Pugh), Meg (Emma Watson) and Beth (Eliza Scanlen) and unfolds in a non-linear fashion as Jo reflects back and forth on her life.

Little Women has always been a story about women's choices in life and Greta Gerwig's version is no exception, yet it doesn't feel stuffy and old fashioned, the March sisters feel modern like people we know.

The cinematography is lush and suceeds at giving the film this classical All set to a score by Alexandre Desplat that sounds like it was woven with silk.

Saoirse Ronan plays the rebellious and ever-energetic Jo  Jo intends to make her own way in the world in a time when women didn't have much say in life. Jo is a writer out-and-out a writer - it's her whole life. It's the only thing that makes sense to her apart from her family. She has a Peter Pan mentality and wants to stay young forever and she wants her sisters and Laurie to feel the same

Florence Pugh  One of the best aspects of Pugh's Amy is that she doesn't play her as a villain, she plays her very much as kind of the black sheep of the March sisters. She's the girl who walks into a room and thinks that everybody's going to be looking at her and if they're not they will be now.

Emma Watson  playing Meg. Meg is the most tradiational of the March sisters in that she wants to be married and have children. As a result, she feels embarrassed because Jo expects everyone to be like her and for Meg it takes a lot of courage to stand up and tell her it's not what she wants.

Eliza Scanlen from HBO's Sharp Objects is a delight playing Beth March bringing to her an innocence to the role and a quiet confidence  

Timothee Chalamet   playing Theodore "Laurie" Laurence  Jo and Laurie are best friends

Laura Dern expertly captures the warm, maternal nature of  the matriach of the March family.

Meryl Streep playing Aunt March. Streep captures her sense of desperation to get these sisters married

He doesn't appear until over an hour into the movie but Bob Odenkirk certainly impresses playing the March sister's father.

Chris Cooper is really rather good in this film playing Laurie's father.

Louis Garrel  playing Fredrich Bhaer.