Review
Little Women
- Director
- Gillian Armstrong
- Year
- 1994
- Rating
- Reviewed by
- Gon C Curiel a.k.a. Groucho
- Review date
- Thursday, October 24, 2002
Gorgeous adaptation of the celebrated Louisa May Alcott novel, gathering an amazing ensemble of actors to perform a script that requires them to show the purest emotions. The direction by Gillian Armstrong couldn’t be any grander, for it focuses on the feelings of the characters while not forgetting every beautiful landscape that surrounds them. The screenplay adapts the classic novel to modern-day feminism, which in ways is out of place, but as a whole doesn’t matter at all, for the original text is in fact, at its core, quite feminist.
Ryder shines in this pet project of hers, making a believable and very sensible Jo. I can’t think of a better choice than Kirsten Dunst for little Amy, and Samantha Mathis is great as the grown-up one. Claire Danes steals her scenes as suffering Beth, as does Mary Wickes as grumpy Aunt March. Eric Stoltz as John Brooke, Christian Bale as Laurie and Gabriel Byrne as Professor Bhaer, all do sensational jobs.
Look out for that score by Thomas Newman! Boy, what beauty, what power…
If the 1933 version is a true translation of the novel to film, this one shows how it would look as a real-life event. Realistic but not crude, romantic but not corny, sad but not tragic, this is a flawless film.
“Now we are all family, as we always should have been.”
Gon C Curiel en Twitter | CriticSociety en Twitter | CriticSociety en Facebook
Share on Facebook | Share on Twitter
Other reviews of Little Women (1994): Morris
Comments
Leave a comment
Morris wrote at 10/24/2002 8:51:17 PM:
Did I say this movie is a classic? YES I DID! It's a masterpiece. A glorious piece of cinema. A movie I can see countless times without ever getting tired of it. It's lack of cynism is enough to make me wanna cry at every scene. I think it is the movie that makes me cry the most, as a matter of fact. Wonderfully acted... a magnificent work of art!