2019
Directed by Greta Gerwig
I have a love/hate relationship with this story. I really care about the characters, but I have a hard time forgiving them for the choices they make. The entire story breaks my heart and I don't want to revisit the tale as often as Hollywood wants to. Once again, another adaptation of the novel devastated me, which I guess means I liked it?
Jo March wants to be a writer, but the years after the Civil War didn't exactly encourage female artistry. Her older sister Meg dreams of having a family, and her younger sister Amy wants to be a painter in Paris. And her other sister, Beth, is content to just be "desperately good" and play the piano. They befriend their neighbor Laurie, who falls for Jo.
This is such a familiar story, at least to me, so I really liked that this movie laid out the plot in a rather unconventional way, i.e. non chronologically. It seemed to challenge the notion that women were always able to maintain a demure, sometimes reluctantly demure, presence in the company of men.
Some might feel that the feminism aspects were forced in, but I, shockingly, admired the addition. It felt truer to Louisa May Alcott's real life, truer, at least, than the cloying sentimentalism found in the novel (which was probably only added to please publishers).
Still, I will never get over the Jo and Laurie romance.
RATING: *****
Interesting Facts:
Emma Watson took over the role of Meg March from Emma Stone.
Florence Pugh finished filming Midsommar a few days before she started filming this movie.
I am reluctant to into this one, as my reaction is probably a gender stereotype .. as I really disliked this film.
ReplyDeleteGoing, having been briefed that it was a new viewpoint, feminist re-interpretation, ... after half an hour I was bored, didn't care about any of the characters and so had the suffer the next 4 hours longing for whichever one it is that dies to do so.
Really? a more modern view of gender roles? Where? Umpteen stereotype 'girlies' twitter on about social events and Ohhhh squeal, wave hands about, jump up and down on their toes in raptures of yet another new dress...
Well, the dances are probably the only time they are able to talk to other people, outside of church and doing charity work. So I'd be excited too.
DeleteAnd they did more than squeal about dances. They wrote, painted, played piano, performed said plays, formed secret societies, fought, laughed. What else do they have to do??
Agreed that it did feel very long though.