InCinemas SG

Opening Date

16 Jan 2020

Rating

PG

Runtime

135 mins

Language

English - subtitles to be advised

Genre

Drama

Director

Greta Gerwig

Cast

Emma Watson, Timothée Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Meryl Streep, Bob Odenkirk, Laura Dern, James Norton, Chris Cooper

Synopsis

Writer-director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) has crafted a Little Women that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott, and unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig’s take, the beloved story of the March sisters – four young women each determined to live life on her own terms -- is both timeless and timely. Portraying Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth March, the film stars Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, with Timothee Chalamet as their neighbor Laurie, Laura Dern as Marmee, and Meryl Streep as Aunt March.

Reviews

By Hoai 17 Jan 2020

Director-writer Greta Gerwig has truly outdone herself to honour the source material while putting her own spin that makes it tenfold more satisfying. Couple this with the phenomenal acting from the main cast and you will not leave the theatre disappointed.

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The reviewer caught the preview of 'Little Women' at Golden Village Suntec, which opens exclusively at Golden Village cinemas.

Being a huge fan of Louisa May Alcott’s novels, I was excited to see what director-writer Greta Gerwig would do with her own version, and perhaps unsurprisingly she exceeded all my expectations.

The film alternates between the March daughters’ childhood and adulthood with a seamless yet recognisable transition. If the childhood scenes are coloured in a warm and cosy autumnal palette, the scenes when the characters are older have a cooler, more desaturated tone appropriate for the turmoil they now go through.

What has to be the best thing Greta Gerwig has done in this version is the ending, which has always been the biggest controversy about Louisa May Alcott’s original novel. The team Laurie vs team Professor Bhaer debate is as lively now as it was some 150 years ago when the book was published (and will be even more so now that Timothée Chalamet gets involved). It was all about who got to have Jo’s hand in marriage. But Greta Gerwig has turned the original ending on its head to shift the focus back on Jo’s life and her writing career instead of her romance. If you were as frustrated as many fans of the book at how it ended, Greta Gerwig’s almost fourth-wall breaking ending that calls out the publishing industry for pressuring writers to marry off their female characters will have you mentally fist pump the air.
One of the film’s more questionable decisions is to have the same cast play both the child and adult versions of the March daughters and Laurie. While it’s understandable in terms of creating a mirror between their childhood and adulthood, some of the actors just aren’t convincing trying to pass as children, no matter how good their acting is. Amy’s antics and brattiness are tolerable for a 12-year-old, but become childish and almost insufferable in 24-year-old Florence Pugh’s version (if you have read the book, you know what scene I’m talking about). Someone unfamiliar with the source material may easily mistake Beth to be the youngest March daughter instead of Amy. The same can be said for Saoirse Ronan, who looks much more mature than the 15-year-old Jo she is playing, which explains why her scenes as adult Jo tend to be much more compelling.

Greta Gerwig’s Little Women definitely isn’t the first adaptation of the original novel, and if the enduring popularity of the characters is anything to go by, it’s not going to be the last. But Greta Gerwig has truly outdone herself to honour the source material while putting her own spin that makes it tenfold more satisfying. Couple this with the phenomenal acting from the main cast and you will not leave the theatre disappointed.
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Little Women