Little Women

“Women, they have minds, and they have souls, as well as just hearts. And they’ve got ambition, and they’ve got talent, as well as just beauty. I’m so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for. I’m so sick of it! But I’m so lonely.”

Greta Gerwig has done it again.

In both Gerwig's directorial efforts, there seems to be an indescribable sense of motion that is brimming in every frame and every dialogue. Gerwig’s sensibility breathes an enveloping sense of warmth into this thoughtful and modern adaptation.

It’s not easy to find a director whose work makes you feel heard. Little Women is of course a splendid adaptation of a novel that is perhaps targeted towards a younger audience, but Gerwig treats the thematic elements with such nuance that the film is bound to appeal to audiences of all ages. The film uplifts those who yearn for independence but also makes a point to show the plights that come with one’s choice of independence. What makes the message of empowerment more genuine is that this same level of respect and sympathy are also extended to characters who face very different choices across the board.

Little Women reconstructed the classic story beats into separate timelines which at first can be muddled but as their distance closes, the sprawling episodes came to echo one another beautifully, like strings of memories spontaneously called upon one’s thoughts. These memories are adorned by bright spots of colour and dashes of childhood naivete. Watching them play out feels like we are at once looking in from the outside of the March house’s misty windows as a passive observer of their lives, while feeling like the warmth that radiates from within is just within our hands’ reach. Whether it’s an unread letter, an unfinished piece of writing, an unrequited love or an unsaid truth, Little Women makes you feel that all these fragments are tangible.

Thanks for making me feel alive again.

(Originally posted on 2 Jan 2020 @projectunwrapped)