Little Women (2019)

I saved this for last among 2019 Academy Best Picture nominees because I had already seen the 1994 adaptation twice, albeit long ago. I was not very fond of that one, leaving me of two minds about seeing the reputedly best version.

For those who aren't up on the Louisa May Alcott classic literature, the title characters are four sisters in 1860s Massachusetts, traditionally supposed to spend much of the story as teens (and one briefly a tween) but herein played strictly by twenty-somethings. From oldest to youngest, they are Meg (Emma Watson), Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Beth (Eliza Scanlon), and Amy (Florence Pugh). Jo gets the most focus, being an aspiring author with little regard for contemporary gender expectations, including marriage. More broadly, the sisters struggle with poverty, what with their father (Bob Odenkirk) away at war and neither any of them nor their mother (Laura Dern) in a good position to make money. They also face scarlet fever, a harsh teacher, and jealousy, not least with regard to the generosity and affection of comely male neighbor Laurie (Timothée Chalamet).

If that sounds a little complicated or even scattershot, you get the key thing I didn't like about either version: It's overly packed. The book was never designed with cinema in mind. The 2019 film runs about 17 minutes longer than the '94 one did, which is a partial boon for not rushing as much, but I was ready for it to end almost an hour early. Not that I'd know which parts to cut.

I thought I was following the story better this time, but only when reading the synopsis afterward did I understand how much it jumps backward and forward about seven years. It almost makes me miss the '94 narration.

Having older main actresses, while no detriment to their acting capacity, reduced the tragedy of certain moments to my mind. It's a pity, because I found a certain tearjerker to be the highlight of the '94 version.

Nevertheless, I think I like the newer one a bit better for cinematography. It keeps things somehow crisp, making scene after scene border on iconic. Not bad, Greta Gerwig. And Jacqueline Durran earned that Oscar for costume design.

One difference I appreciate is the approach to women's issues. Jo gets a new speech (thanks to Meryl Streep, who plays her aunt) detailing the trouble with matrimony in their setting. And her clash with a publisher (Tracy Letts) is nothing as simple as a refusal to give female writers a chance; it's more an insistence on conforming to certain sexist tropes in order to sell well, along with deciding on an agreeable economic arrangement. Those problems, no doubt, have not gone away in RL.

On a less obviously positive note, the old New England accents sound less British to my ears than before. Ironic that only one of the main actresses is actually American.

As I predicted, LW does not make my upper half among the year's nominees. Still, I'm kinda glad it was nominated.