Ben Oliver

Banner image for Little Women
film

Little Women

I’d rather be a free spinster and paddle my own canoe.
12 January 2020

Quite the step up for Greta Gerwig. Her 2017 debut Lady Bird was an inspired coming-of-age drama, and here she’s been given more money, a bigger cast and a well known text to play with. Where many would stumble, she has taken this in her stride and made another excellent film.

It’s too soon to call it a modern classic, but it has all the trappings of one. Powerful performances, gorgeous score, exquisite set design, lucid direction and a shit-hot script. It’s an epic that caters to modern tastes while having a timeless quality to it; something even veteran directors fail to achieve, much less those on their second shake of the stick.

Little Women is a powerful, bittersweet, thoroughly enjoyable adaptation that exudes warmth and character. One for the ages.

Reply by email