With Christmas less than a week away the movies keep getting better. I mean just plum good and engrossing. The best Oscar contenders rise and shine at the end of the year. Most of their films being adapted from a true story, based on a true story or, such as Little Women, based on a novel by Louisa May Alcott and directed by Greta Gerwig “Lady Bird” is a great love story that takes a look at the March sisters.
There have been a few other takes on this story in the past and some very good. The most recent take opens on Christmas day and might be the best damn thing all year although it’s geared towards the female audience. It’s a beautiful film on the four March girls now grown focuses on second oldest sister Jo (Saoirse Ronan), a struggling New York City novelist who sits at the bargaining table with a book publisher (Tracy Letts) to get her work printed but all he does is skim through her words, penciling through them telling her it isn’t good enough.
The story starts with a title card quoting Alcotts’ own words “I had lots of troubles, so I write Jolly tales.” Laura Dern plays the sister’s mother while the father is participating in the end of the Civil War so the girls become involved in becoming somebody, women, with the opportunity of making an impact in the world making their own money and providing for their families. Jo, the second eldest sister, wants to prove herself by her novels. Her oldest sister Meg (Emma Watson) is interested in stage while sister Amy (Florence Pugh) who totally was ablaze is the artistic one with the fourth sister Beth (Eliza Scanlen) obsessed with the piano. With the family being on the poor side of wealthy had to make ends meet which they did while their father was away in the Civil War. They took food from their table and walked it to their poorer neighbors house to feed them.
This is an illuminating story that follows the book almost perfectly and Little Women is all about the girls’s minds and hearts. It is true to the book even following the hair curling mishap which will immersive you into the amusing elements. This story is full of generosity with an artistic format and even tragedy. A death occurs. This is a film that shall warm the heart and place women at the forefront of the big screen. The film also stars Timothee Chalamet (Lady Bird) as Jo’s love interest. “Little Women” would be a great Christmas movie for the wives and maybe another Oscar vote to joining the competition. *****
