Little Women 2019 review

It’s not a bad film, but the 1994 version with Wynona Ryder and Christian Bale etc was a much much better film. Most of the characters are well cast, but the director/writer Greta Gerwig has turned it into a feminist polemic. A little less emphasis on the feminism would have made it more true to its era. I didn’t like how the story isn’t told in a linear fashion. She jumps all around back and forth in time for no discernible reason. It does NOT enhance the plot. The scene where Amy tells the Laurie character off(at a formal party no less) about what a disappointment he has become with his dissolution & pining for Jo, seems staged and overdone in this version. It doesn’t feel authentic.

In terms of plot I liked much better the way the romance between Jo and Professor Baer was treated in the 1994 film. In this one their interaction is given short shrift and it’s almost not convincing that they even like each other all that much and would end up together. The scene of Winona Ryder & Gabriel Byrne under an umbrella hands clasped in the 1994 film was the perfect ending.

Whoever did the music for it, well most of the music is pretty forgettable unlike the 1994 film which I felt was very much enhanced by the musical soundtrack. All the critics are raving about it but I stick by my assessment that Gillian Armstrong’s direction of the 1994 film was better. She captured the adventurous spirit of the Jo character, and her longing for a life of adventure that isn’t in the traditional woman’s role without a confusing shuffling of the order of the plot. No doubt it will be nominated for gobs of awards. I won’t be rooting for it. I liked Gerwig’s Lady Bird film last year but it was over rated too. I think because she is the darling of the indie movies, critics over praise her work.

I encourage all to see the 1994 version and see if you don’t agree with me.