Little Women

This film’s greatest asset is the excellent casting of young, talented actresses who don’t yet cost as much as Scarlett Johansson, but can achieve at least the same girl-power when they work as a team. And, representing the older generation, Laura Dern and Meryl complement them nicely. It is literally a pleasure to watch all of these young ladies enjoying their characters and the beloved “girlish” material. They are just glad that they can be a part of it. I suppose Greta Gerwig also deserves credit for that, as she loves actors and has a talent for this kind of emotional storytelling. I actually dreaded it, and thus I was touched by it all the more. This is pure cinematic romanticism with an open heart. The chronological jumps in the story were confusing in places, but that didn’t have any effect on the emotional experience. Supporting actor Tracy Letts has had a great year, with his portrayal of a book publisher here to go along with the glowing role of Henry Ford II in Ford v Ferrari. (02/02/2020)

This story of four sisters coming of age in the mid-nineteenth century and figuring out what they want out of life is surprisingly relevant in the twenty-first century. In it, Greta Gerwig gives space to the actresses in particular, who certainly don't let her down, and she handles the touching and funny scenes with complete ease. An honest and entertaining modern adaptation of a literary classic. It's just a pity that it is perhaps unnecessarily cold and aloof in its first half. (01/30/2020)

Through the avalanche of girls chirping and shouting, Little Women shot for sincere deeds, plot twists, or surprised tears. I sensed that the sought-after adaptation might enchant me, but that it would be a versatile spectacle that would soften the hearts of even the most hardened is a surprise of the most pleasant kind. Moreover, the entire cast is perfectly cast, and I would love to see them in all the upcoming costume dramas. This is, after all, a mutual chemistry that comes along once in a generation. (02/07/2020)

I'll be honest, I was expecting a movie that might change my life. But even though I thought it was a nice flick and I liked the girls, it didn't happen. There is no need to debate the performances, they are so natural and convincing that I completely forgot about all the actresses' previous roles and for a while I just saw them as Little Women. Slightly less perfect, in my opinion, was the script. It made it difficult for me to orient myself in time, so I gave up after a while and instead of enjoying the story I just enjoyed watching the atmosphere, the costumes, and basically a female world where the male element intrudes a little less than we’re used to. (12/26/2021)

Fresh, playful, at times extremely conversational, but improvisationally well played. The casting is superb (Ronan, Watson, Pugh). It's hard to say how faithful it is to the source material, or rather to the original film, but it meets the contemporary demands of a historical conversational drama with family values and ingredients in the form of relationships and life turning points and decisions very well. Perhaps the only bigger problem is with the flashbacks, which the director puts there quite unsparingly. It takes a while to get your bearings. (06/07/2020)

Beautiful film, really beautiful. There are so many moments in it that other filmmakers would use in other films to try at least to move me or completely blow me away, but Greta Gerwig doesn't need to. Everything in the Marches' story was meant to have an effect on me, and yet I still had that satisfied feeling. It wasn't overly melancholy, it wasn't extra sad, it wasn't tragic. It was just beautiful. As for the cast, as expected, Saoirse Ronan absolutely reigns and is once again amazing in every minute, however I was surprised by Emma Watson, who made a real impression on me for perhaps the first time since Harry Potter. (02/16/2020)

Greta Gerwig is a truly amazing narrator. Though the division of the plot into emotionally connected episodes prevented me from living the story of the characters as intensively and clearly as I would have wanted given the scope and the protagonists, it is actually thanks to that episodic arrangement and the time jumps that this intellectually demanding material never gets boring or suffers from narrative sterility. I must admit that at least once I didn’t know whom they were talking about, but otherwise I was thrilled with the natural heroines and their personal vicissitudes, the tasteful humour, the always brilliant Alexandre Desplat and the precise direction, which perfectly leads not only the actors, but also the tempo and the changes in character and motivational perspectives. And this is not about men as evil rulers of the world, it’s about the desire for self-expression in a world where men have the last word and are as indispensable as their own dreams and families. A funny and distinctive script, a wonderful Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh. 85% (03/14/2020)

I went to the cinema to see the advanced premiere of Little Women and I can honestly say that I couldn't have picked a better movie for the last day of the year. I’m not familiar with the book, but I've always loved historical costume dramas, and when I saw everyone who was going to be in this film, I couldn't wait to see it on the big screen. Little Women impresses with a strong story that may smack a little of romance at times, but it is so believably written and above all superbly acted that you can safely ignore that and lets yourself ride the waves of a story about four sisters who couldn't be more different. All the actors played their parts to perfection and in a convincing manner, whether they were main or supporting roles. In addition, I must not forget the beautiful sets, the costumes and Alexandre Desplat's unmistakable music. Little Women mixes elements of drama, romance and humour in an artful and unforced way. I applaud and give it both thumbs up! (12/31/2019)

A cinema visit to Little Women took me nostalgically back to my high school days at the mall. The full theater with only two men in it, or the lending of tissues between rows from the middle of the movie on reminded me again of the beauty of the collective cinematic experience that Netflix just can't give you. As for the film, it could probably get by with the fantastic performances from Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh alone, whose characters breathe with such life and energy that they redeem even a few of those Jehovah's Witness scenes full of Christmas tables, gifting the poor, and other kilos of goodness like a children’s book. Still, Greta Gerwig has chosen to break the entire two books into different episodes, which she stacks on top of each other, albeit without chronology, but in such a way that the events contained within them ideally have the strongest possible impact in terms of our moment-to-moment connection with a particular character. On several occasions we witness dialogue whose importance is revealed to us a scene later, which takes place either several years before or after the dialogue. Underneath all the liveliness, then, there is actually a clockwork that successfully tries to sell us, with the strongest possible impact, the most important personal moments in the lives of several characters. And it's quite possible that with a standard narrative, the film wouldn't have had such a strong impact. (02/17/2020)

The 1994 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel impressed me a little more than this movie directed by Greta Gerwig. Nevertheless, I cannot deny the movie's impressive portrayal of the atmosphere of a bygone era, its excellent cast and the acting performances. The costume design is also undoubtedly praiseworthy. But to be honest, I don't really understand the source of the general fascination with this romantic story, which I always found rather boring. (65%) (04/15/2023)

There have been many major films in the current Hollywood trend of girl-power films, but not even hits like Captain Marvel or Wonder Woman can compare with Little Women, not to mention one of the most cringeworthy moments in movie history - the infamous "all girl scene" in Avengers: Endgame. All it took here was a good story, confident direction and exquisite cast, dominated by Florence Pugh, the result being an excellent film. Although I must admit that, especially from the beginning, the interweaving of timelines seemed incredibly chaotic, but it worked out well in the end. (02/04/2020)