Little Women is an absolute classic and one of my favourite books. I was worried that this film would not do the story justice. That, plus, the 1994 version was brilliant. I was planning on avoiding this one entirely, but a few things made me change my mind.
A week before its release, I happened to catch an hour long discussion on satellite radio with the cast and the crew. They spoke so eloquently about the vision behind the film and why they chose to make it now. That alone, started to get me interested in the film, but it was the first reviews that really did it for me. Critics called it nearly perfect. I went through Twitter and didn’t see a bad review in the bunch. I knew that I had to see it then.
Greta Gerwig wrote and directed it and made some interesting choices that made the period piece as relevant today as if it had been modernized completely. The way the sisters talked over each other seemed quite realistic. No one patiently waited for their turn to speak the iconic lines. She also chose to tell the story in a non-linear way. This helped bring out some of the themes in the original source material.
Louisa May Alcott seems to speak through this film. There are things that happened in her life that were incorporated brilliantly into the script. The ending was almost perfect and has me yearning to see a sequel. After all, there are several books that followed this one and it would be great to see this version of the story continue.
It’s hard not to fall in love with Jo March. Saoirse Ronan embodies the character so well. Meryl Streep perfectly encapsulates Aunt March. Rounding out the cast are Emma Watson as Meg, Florence Pugh as Amy, and Eliza Scanlen, and they all do a excellent job.
My only criticism of this film is that it jumps around in time an awful lot. I think a more straightforward story would have been easier to follow. Yet, this makes this version completely unique. You don’t feel like you’ve seen this before.
It’s a wonderful film and I hope just the start of the March sisters’ adventures.