Little Women: A

The risk of any Little Women adaptation is to turn this multiple coming of age story into a treacly homily. Greta Gerwig sidesteps the potential for syrup, and while her adaptation is full of real warmth and conviviality, it gives equal narrative weight to conflicts and family triangulations. The decision to tell the story non-linearly might prove baffling to those unfamiliar with the book, but there’s an easy cheat sheet: the “past” is shot with an orange filter; while the “present” is a cool lonely blue. For me, the structure worked to give texture to the cyclicality and parallel struggles of women trying to exist in full color against the very limited palette of 1860s American mores. It’s a beautiful, heartfelt film, and the meta-textual twist at the very end gives us something to continue thinking about.

Jeanne Obbard, Staff Writer