Little Men

source: Little Men

I found this to be a quiet and effective indie drama, with characters and dialogue that came across to me as real. It contains excellent acting, very able direction (Ira Sachs), and a sharp screenplay from Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias. After the passing of his father, Brian Jardine (Greg Kinnear), his wife Kathy (Jennifer Ehle), and their 13-year-old son Jake (Theo Taplitz) relocate from Manhattan to the apartment left to Brian (and his sister) by his dad. They'll also be the new landlords for the store below the apartment, a small dress shop. The dress shop is owned and operated by Leonor Calvelli (Paulina Garcia), who lives nearby with her son Tony (Michael Barbieri) Leonor was very close with Brian's father and he made sure her store rent stayed the same, despite the new bohemian upsurge in the neighborhood. I might mention seeing Garcia here reminded me of her mesmerizing performance in the 2013 movie "Gloria". By the way if you're expecting to see a lot of the superb actor Alfred Molina, he only appears briefly in 2 scenes as Leonor's friend and attorney. One of the main themes of the film will be the immediate friendship that springs up between Tony and Jake. They both aspire to go to LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts, with Tony for acting and Jake for illustration and art. With the dress shop lease coming due and Brian being under financial pressure, as well as pressure from his sister, the proposal to bring the rent up to market conditions for the struggling small business will bring immediate friction and tension to the 2 families' relationships, and especially the strong bonding that had developed between the two teens Jake and Tony. All in all, my interest was captured from the start by this quietly powerful drama and its believable characters, and I was engrossed till its conclusion.

Little Men (2016) was co-written and directed by Ira Sachs. Kathy (Jennifer Ehle), Brian (Greg Kinnear) and Jake (Theo Taplitz) Jardine move into an apartment in Brooklyn owned by Brian's late father. Leonor Calvelli (Paulina García), a native of Chile, rents the dress shop underneath the apartment. Her son Tony (Michael Barbieri) and Jake become friends. Gentrification has made the neighborhood more desirable, and the Jardines want to raise the rent on the shop. Leonor is making enough money to live on, but there's no way she can afford higher rent. She points out that Brian's father always assumed she would stay in the shop at an affordable rent. Unfortunately, he didn't put this assumption into his will. The Jardines are not wealthy, and they need the money that the higher rent will give them. The remainder of the plot plays out this situation, in which there is no good answer. The boys truly like each other. What do they do when their parents have become enemies? Some reviewers have treated the plot as "no big deal." We're dealing with endless war and climate change. Why should anyone care about a woman driven out of her dress shop? That's true in a global sense, but if you're the person being driven out--or the person forcing the other person out--it's a big deal to you. Paulina García is a truly great actor. We saw her in Gloria (2013). Here's what I wrote in my review of that film: This is an excellent movie because Paulina García is the perfect actor for the role. Her acting ability is wonderful. Although Gloria is quite attractive, she's in her fifties, and looks it. Apparently, Ms. García hasn't gone the Hollywood route of multiple plastic surgeries. She's an attractive 53-year-old woman playing an attractive 53-year-old woman. That makes the film both interesting and believable. The rest of the cast--including the stars and the two young would-be stars--do a professional job, but they can't come up to the level of Paulina García. The movie is worth seeing just to watch her act. We saw this film at the excellent Little Theatre in Rochester, NY. It will work well on the small screen. In fact, there are endless shots of the boys together--one on a scooter and one on roller blades-- that are too long and somewhat dizzying. So, the movie might work better on the small screen! This is one of those films that represents a real effort to make a great movie. However, in my opinion, it's a good movie, but not a great one. It's worth seeing if it's easy to find it. I don't think it's worth a special trip. On the other hand, Gloria is available to buy or rent on Amazon video (no DVD listed). If you want to see Paulina García in a superb film, I'd watch that instead.

There are three main types of movies, good ones, bad ones and ones that are overlooked by the public. Yes, it is not a masterpiece and has flaws, but still I enjoyed watching this and I was shocked to see the IMDb rating and the box office result. Though independent movies like this don't make much back it still should of made it's 2 million budget. The performance were almost all good, with the exception of a few, it was well paced so I could truly experience the chemistry growth between the two children who come from two entirely different backgrounds. To conclude it is an underrated movie that brings out a range of emotions, but yes it is not perfect.

The negatives: I have no idea what the themes of this story are, and the two or three that come to mind is depressingly cynical (friends come and go & trying hard/never giving up on your goals is bad ??). It is all over the place! Nothing said or seen has anything to do with anything else. The father, while having a very unique point of view - and probably reveals why his career is where it's at, gives the most random bad advice,.. twice. Also, had the father simply told it like it is, the plot would have been resolved in about 60 seconds. The shop owner seems to be living in her own universe or is even more intellectually-challenged than we are led to believe (which creates the tension for the entire "plot".) The positives: the acting is outstanding from every cast member!! Natural and believable. The actors take what little they are given and take it to another level that, frankly, the plot doesn't deserve. The performances are simply entertaining from start to finish. (There is one scene in particular between the aspiring actor and his acting coach that is absolutely phenomenal!) The cinematography is both beautiful and realistic at the same time. Overall, I really really wanted to like this movie, I truly did. And it is not bad, but it barely gleaned of potential and never really went anywhere with it (which I think was the point.) I'm all for realistic movies, but there needs to be a point if there is no (strong) plot. Thankfully the acting & cinematography were outstanding enough for this not to be a waste of time.

"The neighborhoods changing." Brian Jardine (Kinnear) is a struggling actor who has just lost his father. He heads to Brooklyn for the funeral and to deal with his fathers estate. He discovers that a small business was costing his father money, and is unable to continue the same deal. This causes tension with him and the owner of the business, which is further enhanced by the fact that Brian's son and the son of the owner are best friends. This is a really good movie that makes you think. You really struggle to decide who is in the right and can see both sides equally. The dynamic of the adults and the kids relationships are really fleshed out and are the true heart of the movie. That said, the movie could have been really good but it stayed a little monotone and the end just kind of happened. When you watch this you will see what I mean. Overall, the acting and writing are good, but it felt a little flat at some parts and really just came to an abrupt end, which hurt the movie a little bit. I disappointingly give this a B-.

This film is a joy. I'm a long way from age 13, but this film reminded me of the ups and downs of teenage relationships. Two boys, one shy, one feisty thrown together by circumstance. They form a strong bond just as their respective parents grow apart. The boys don't have the emotional experience to understand the reasons why there is a rift between their respective parents. They resort to childish ploys to restore the status quo. Clearly this doesn't work. I won't give away the ending. But please go and see this film for the two outstanding performances from the two boys. Just breathtaking. And familiar. And a brilliant light touch from the director. I just want to see it again.

I was expecting the movie to be more about the kids, but it was mostly about their horrible parents. Tony's mom was dumb, rude, and sexist. Jake's dad needed money that was rightfully his to support his family. He tried to be as reasonable as he could and offered her a fair deal, which he was not legally obligated to do. She argues that she doesn't owe him anything, even though she does, and continuously insults him. She claims that his father cared more about her and thought it was wrong for a woman to financially support her husband. When she finds out his family needs the money she says that it's not her problem, even though it technically is. She also brings her son down into the feud. Jake's dad is not much better. He evicts Jake's best friend without considering how it would affect Jake. He doesn't want Jake to hang out with the only friend he has. When he yelled at Jake in the car, I wanted to kill him. He calls Jake selfish when all Jake wants is to keep his best friend. He gives no regard to his own actions. He even insults Tony's acting skills. He is supposed to be the adult, but his son was the real adult in the family. I was disappointed at the end when Jake apologized to his father, as if he did something wrong. I loved the kids. They were both really lovable characters and really cute. I admired their friendship and that they didn't let anything destroy their friendship even when their parents actively tried to. If this movie focused just on the two of them, it could have been great.

So, when I saw the trailer, I think I may have been mislead about what the movie is really about. They used the star power of actor, Greg Kinnear to sell the movie, and even though he's a big (very big) part of the movie, his story is not the focus. The heart of the movie is the instant bond that happens between the two young boys in this movie (From the trailer, I thought the title Little Men came from the fact that Kinnear was a man-child, which was not the case). The kid that played the character Tony was the absolutely best. Watching him in the scenes interacting with all the characters was fantastic. He was not the main boy among the two boys, but he was steeling the show without trying. Other than this kid, the movie does not grab me at all. The main plot of the two boys bond being tested by their parents disagreement over prime real estate in Brooklyn felt really superficial in it's attempts to get everyone on broad, and although every actor is talented, the delivery of the whole film is too bland. So the kid Tony was the best part of the film that was overall too dry for my taste. http://cinemagardens.com

LITTLE MEN (2016) ***1/2 Greg Kinnear, Jennifer Ehle, Theo Taplitz, Michael Barbieri, Paulina Garcia, Alfred Molina, Talia Balsam. A gem of an indie dramedy coming of age story about two new friends (engaging newcomers Taplitz and Barbieri) whose relationship comes to a challenge when their parents wind up in a sticky predicament involving rent disputes while attempting to keep the peace intact. Filmmaker Ira Sachs - who co-scripted with Mauricio Zacharias - offers a nice parable about the niceties among the socioeconomic pitfalls in life with a suggested novella feel to the storyline with great NYC & Brooklyn location shots as well as his aforementioned young cast. Kinnear delivers the low-key goods as a conflicted man trying to do the right thing while being caught in the middle of of social graces and responsibilities to family. Worth seeking out.