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) each determined to live life on their own terms and unfolds in a non-linear fashion as Jo makes a living as a writer in New York while Amy studies painting in Paris 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 way the March family is portrayed seems very in line with how Louisa May Alcott's family was. It's a time of discovery   Gerwig also pays respect to childhood and what we learn growing up.

The March sisters are individuals but they're also reflections of Louisa May Alcott. Each of them feels completely different with their own passions and aspirations. Through them, this version of Little Women shows that strength can be found in different places and expressed in different ways. They go off and live their different lives but they still come back together because they're still this strong unit. heir sisterly bond is emotional core of the film: They love each other, they hate each other, they talk over one another 

The cinematography is lush and succeeds at giving the film this classical, picturesque, winsome vision of 1860's Massachusetts 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 way and they don't.

Florence Pugh is a star in the making playing Amy March. 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. Amy is incredibly clear eyed about what the world is and she's going to work out how to be a success one way or the other. She's incredibly passionate about either being the best version of herself as an artist or she won't do it at all.

Emma Watson is lovely and earnest playing Meg. Meg is the most tradiational of the March sisters in that she wants to be married and have children, but 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  an innocence to the role and a quiet confidence that really resonates on screen. She's sick for a very long time and she goes on a journey of self realisation and discovery  she did an excellent job showing the vulnerability beneath that confident 

Timothee Chalamet   playing Theodore "Laurie" Laurence. Jo and Laurie are best friends  There's a case to be made that because they're best friends, it could lead to a great marriage but at the same time one could argue the exact opposite. I don't mind admitting that 

Laura Dern expertly captures the warm, maternal nature of  the matriach of the March family. She is the reason why the March sisters are who they are.

Meryl Streep is fabulous 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 "Saul" Odenkirk certainly impresses playing the March sister's father, Robert March. Papa Rob is away fighting in the war 

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

Louis Garrel  playing Fredrich Bhaer.