It's tradition in Hollywood readapt Louisa May Alcott's classic time to time. But we had an overdose of it for the last three consecutive years.
Beginning in 2017, a three episodes mini series starring Emily Watson and lovely Maya Hawke was fairly adapted by Heidi Thomas and directed by Vanessa Caswill. In 2018 Claire Niederpruem failed badly to bring to current days the story for a TV movie starring Sarah Davenport and Lea Thompson. As if it wasn't enough, Greta Gerwig was probably approached to develop her own adaptation between both releases after 2017's directorial breakthrough and Academy Award nominated Lady Bird.
The approach was a very wise move by Sony's former chairwoman Amy Pascal and Sony itself to respectively produce and distribute the movie for three reasons that I personally believe. First because it was interesting for Sony to promote its brand under a female themed movie in a time where women are demanding more creative control and equalty, second because Greta is kind of an unnoficial face of this new gender equalty era of Hollywood, and third because it would be a great opportunity for Paschal to repolish a scratched image after 2015's email leaking scandal.
It's good to know - or at least believe - that Greta had total control of what she was wondering for the adaptation, as she stated that the book is so important not only for the american culture but also to herself. But at the same time oddly to believe that she was unnaware that Pascal's leaked emails made clear at that time that she, as a chairwoman of one of the major studios in Hollywood, was also supporting the gender inequalty disservice in the industry, among other issues.
Anyway, I understand that to achieve certain objectives sometimes we must pay bitter prices for it. And I don't disqualify Greta's work by that at any means. I just think that, as this kind of gender spokesperson that Greta naturally embraced, accepting work with Pascal is not necessarily what I expected and I felt the need to point that.
Lola Versus, Frances Ha and Mistress America were three movies that made me believe that Greta was building an amazing career as an actress and as a writer (the last two she co-wrote with her husband, Noah Baumbach).
And I wasn't wrong after all.
Her adaptation of Little Women is old and new at the same time. Unlike the 2017's TV movie, Greta didn't have to bring the story to the present to make it fresh. The mainly concepts of the story are there, the characters and their respectively personalities were maintained, only the story development suffered minor changes together with free dialog interpretations that added more depth to the social criticism that makes Alcott's classic survive throughout time.
Her direction is simple but targeted, she has a solid concept in her mind and does go for it, even if sometimes some scenes feel corny or cliched. Her freewill spirit is everywhere since the beginning, like when Jo is running happily thru the streets after getting some cash for her own work, the same way Greta does in Frances Ha for similar reasons.
The majority of the cast is great, but imo some of them feel misplaced. Chalamet never makes his character believable, not about lack of talent at all, but because he always seems too young for his role. Louis Garrel should have fit better, and James Norton should've fit better on Garrel's role. The same I think about Saorsie Ronan and Emma Watson, because Watson never gives the feeling that her character is the older one, which is important for the story for the fact that Meg is the 1st of them to feel the social consequences of getting older and still single.
For sure the best achievement of Greta is the amazing and unexpected ending she beautifully created. Trully a gem that will please even the most hardcore fans. That ending expresses a lot of that modern concept she was so eager about being respectful to the original source at the same time.
Trying not to make comparisons, but doing it anyway, I still prefer Gillian Armstrong's version because it is sublime in a lot of ways, being hard for me to now watch Little Women and avoid remembering Winona Ryder as Jo, Claire Danes as Beth, Kirsten Dunst as young Amy or Christian Bale as Laurie. The entire cast was such perfection! And Thomas Newman music is undoubtedly an unforgettable classic.
Greta did a respectful work for the current generation, and I did enjoy a lot. But for those ones that was graced by 1994's version, it's gonna be hard to replace such masterpiece in our memories.
Beginning in 2017, a three episodes mini series starring Emily Watson and lovely Maya Hawke was fairly adapted by Heidi Thomas and directed by Vanessa Caswill. In 2018 Claire Niederpruem failed badly to bring to current days the story for a TV movie starring Sarah Davenport and Lea Thompson. As if it wasn't enough, Greta Gerwig was probably approached to develop her own adaptation between both releases after 2017's directorial breakthrough and Academy Award nominated Lady Bird.
The approach was a very wise move by Sony's former chairwoman Amy Pascal and Sony itself to respectively produce and distribute the movie for three reasons that I personally believe. First because it was interesting for Sony to promote its brand under a female themed movie in a time where women are demanding more creative control and equalty, second because Greta is kind of an unnoficial face of this new gender equalty era of Hollywood, and third because it would be a great opportunity for Paschal to repolish a scratched image after 2015's email leaking scandal.
It's good to know - or at least believe - that Greta had total control of what she was wondering for the adaptation, as she stated that the book is so important not only for the american culture but also to herself. But at the same time oddly to believe that she was unnaware that Pascal's leaked emails made clear at that time that she, as a chairwoman of one of the major studios in Hollywood, was also supporting the gender inequalty disservice in the industry, among other issues.
Anyway, I understand that to achieve certain objectives sometimes we must pay bitter prices for it. And I don't disqualify Greta's work by that at any means. I just think that, as this kind of gender spokesperson that Greta naturally embraced, accepting work with Pascal is not necessarily what I expected and I felt the need to point that.
Lola Versus, Frances Ha and Mistress America were three movies that made me believe that Greta was building an amazing career as an actress and as a writer (the last two she co-wrote with her husband, Noah Baumbach).
And I wasn't wrong after all.
Her adaptation of Little Women is old and new at the same time. Unlike the 2017's TV movie, Greta didn't have to bring the story to the present to make it fresh. The mainly concepts of the story are there, the characters and their respectively personalities were maintained, only the story development suffered minor changes together with free dialog interpretations that added more depth to the social criticism that makes Alcott's classic survive throughout time.
Her direction is simple but targeted, she has a solid concept in her mind and does go for it, even if sometimes some scenes feel corny or cliched. Her freewill spirit is everywhere since the beginning, like when Jo is running happily thru the streets after getting some cash for her own work, the same way Greta does in Frances Ha for similar reasons.
The majority of the cast is great, but imo some of them feel misplaced. Chalamet never makes his character believable, not about lack of talent at all, but because he always seems too young for his role. Louis Garrel should have fit better, and James Norton should've fit better on Garrel's role. The same I think about Saorsie Ronan and Emma Watson, because Watson never gives the feeling that her character is the older one, which is important for the story for the fact that Meg is the 1st of them to feel the social consequences of getting older and still single.
For sure the best achievement of Greta is the amazing and unexpected ending she beautifully created. Trully a gem that will please even the most hardcore fans. That ending expresses a lot of that modern concept she was so eager about being respectful to the original source at the same time.
Trying not to make comparisons, but doing it anyway, I still prefer Gillian Armstrong's version because it is sublime in a lot of ways, being hard for me to now watch Little Women and avoid remembering Winona Ryder as Jo, Claire Danes as Beth, Kirsten Dunst as young Amy or Christian Bale as Laurie. The entire cast was such perfection! And Thomas Newman music is undoubtedly an unforgettable classic.
Greta did a respectful work for the current generation, and I did enjoy a lot. But for those ones that was graced by 1994's version, it's gonna be hard to replace such masterpiece in our memories.