What a film! After watching Little Women (2019) I can definitely see why it was nominated for an Oscar! Excellent, compelling and heart-wrenching with stunning directorship, cinematography and costumes that work to capture the essence of sisterhood, the fears of growing up but also the delicacy of life itself. Greta Gerwig takes us viewers into a world of clashes with siblings, beach trips with friends and ice skating in the middle of the farmland lake to the realms of responsibility, independence and mourning.
But it’s these things that ground the sisters together (as they do in the original text by Louisa May Alcott) reminding them of their bonds when faced with the matters of the heart -both career and the romantic. Reminding them that life is fleeting; in childhood once being firmly grasped in our hands like a rattle or our favourite bedtime teddy, time hastens as we watch it slip through our fingers like sand, an hourglass turned upon its head. Something that once seemed so distant and immoveable is now catching up to us, a reflection of our own reminiscent summer-times, playing games just after noon. The taint of nostalgia which permeates every aspect of the film is sandwiched into the plot in a way that is reminiscent of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. As it plunges Jo March in her past, it mimics Fitzgerald’s iconic boats that constantly tackle the unstoppable passage of time. But unlike Gatsby, these sisters and the strength of their affection against all odds is what drives them onwards into the future with a renewed appreciation for their past, what they most importantly have loved and what they have lost.
As an adaptation, it does not dilute the resonances of the text but instead leads us to align ourselves and root for the reimagination of Alcott’s beloved characters as not distant or stagnant characters (and I am not suggesting at Alcott portrays these women in this way at all) but as quixotic, breathing, moving and ambitious women. Which is ultimately presented in a manner which is so truly synonymous with Greta Gerwig’s compelling portrayal of cinematic women.
All in all this film, whole heartedly deserves a score of 5/5
Spotlight Magazine 
Leave a comment