Flying the Nest

LITTLE WOMEN (A-minus) - Greta Gerwig has a sure hand and some verve -- and Saoirse Ronan -- as she updates this classic for a savvy new audience. Gerwig, following up her autobiographical "Lady Bird," gives a fresh feminist slant to the story of four sisters, harboring divergent hopes and dreams, coming of age in Civil War-era America.

Gerwig keeps the focus on Jo (Ronan), the writer and the least boy-crazy of the bunch, but she carves out distinct personalities for the other three. She bookends the movie with Jo's visit to a New York publisher (Tracy Letts) who pushes her to appeal to popular convention and gender expectations of the day. Gerwig subverts expectations with a rather meta conclusion that leaves you wondering what is "real" (from Louisa May Alcott's original perspective) and what is "real" (from the character Jo's perspective) and what is "real" (from Gerwig's perspective). Is there such a thing as a happy ending?

Gerwig also chops up the narrative, jerking back and forth in time, from the girls nestling like puppies to their own eventual endings. That jumble can be slightly disconcerting at times, but it has the effect, in the long run, of keeping the viewers (especially younger ones accustomed to cut-and-paste consumption of media) on their toes.

Ronan is a regal leading lady, much more grounded than in "Lady Bird." In a brief scene between Jo and her rich Aunt March riding in a carriage, I fell out of the film for a moment and marveled at the frisson of Hollywood za-zaa going on between Ronan and Meryl Streep, as if witnessing a passing of a torch. Elsewhere, the supporting cast is strong. Emma Watson plays beautiful Meg, who weds for love instead of money. Eliza Scanlen doesn't get much to do with the role of sickly Beth, though her interactions with Mr. Laurence are touching, thanks in part to a particularly deep performance by Chris Cooper.

Florence Pugh easily holds her own as Amy, the young rascal who takes one for the family and eventually marries Laurie, the boy who always pined for Jo, and who is played with jangly limbs by Timothee Chalamet, somehow of the era but also thoroughly modern (it's an impressive performance). Laura Dern (like in "Marriage Story") suffers through another thankless hit-and-miss pitchy role as the girls' mother, salvaging the proceedings with a powerful one-on-one with Jo, revealing the bleakness of her own married, impoverished life. Jo gets the message loud and clear, and so, cleverly, does the filmmaker.

EARTHQUAKE BIRD (C+) - This is almost worth it for Alicia Vikander's dead-eyed performance as a transplant to Japan working as a translator and slowly ensnared in a creepy quasi love triangle. But none of the parts -- culled from a moody novel by Susanna Jones -- add up in this trippy drama from British director Wash Westmoreland.

Even Riley Keough is off-key as a third wheel threatening the awkward relationship between Vikander's Lucy Fly (ahem) and hunky, gloomy photographer Teiji (Naoki Kobayashi). Lucy is troubled and seemingly bruised emotionally, and we're never quite sure why. But everyone is mopey here, even the occasionally bubbly Lily (Keough), who eventually goes missing, landing Lucy in an interview room with two detectives. But, billed as a psychological thriller, this one can't get off the ground, and though Vikander digs deep and is arresting at times for her boyish brooding, it's tough to get a handle on the sloppy narrative.

BONUS TRACK
"Little Women" was our traditional Christmas Day Mainstream Movie. It sneaks into the top five among the 15 films we've scored at our annual holiday outing:

  1. Up in the Air (2009)
  2. Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004)
  3. Dreamgirls (2006)
  4. Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
  5. Little Women (2019)
  6. The Fighter (2010)
  7. American Hustle (2013)
  8. The Shape of Water (2017)
  9. La La Land (2016)
10. The Wrestler (2008)
11. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
12. Young Adult (2011)
13. This Is 40 (2012)
14. Holmes & Watson (2018)
15. Into the Woods (2014)