Review of Little Men (2016) by Spangle — 20 Jan 2017

Little Men is a solid film from director Ira Sachs. A film about the friendship between two boys and how it becomes fractured due to a business dispute between their parents, the film feels real. At every turn, it feels like real life. These are real people and get authentic performances from good, down to earth actors. That said, Little Men is hardly perfect. Though it really captures the look and feel of Brooklyn and the surrounding community, in addition to its characters, it just feels so slight. It covers the topics of young male friendship, immaturity, and lack of understanding between parents and children, but it never does it in an acceptable depth. The film sort of appears, touches on these topics, and then disappears because it is far too short. That said, it does have moments of real resonance that stand out and make this a more than worthwhile experience.

Little Men introduces us to Tony Calvelli (Michael Barbieri) and Jake Jardine (Theo Taplitz). Following the death of Jake's grandfather, he and his parents move into his Brooklyn apartment and now own the store space below the apartment. Currently, the store is owned by Tony's mother, Leonor (Paulina Garcia). Unfortunately, she has been paying very little due to a favorable relationship with Brian Jardine's (Greg Kinnear) now deceased father. As Brian is a failing actor and his wife is the sole breadwinner for the family, he desperately needs to raise the lease amount. His sister also is pressuring him to do so, leading to friction with Leonor. This friction gets to the kids who, in an act of unity, refuse to talk to their parents. Yet, despite everyone's best intentions, the families are tragically driven apart.

It is in this relationship between the families that the film really soars. A lack of communication permeates this film and is what really drives them apart. People avoid confrontation or simply use muteness as a sign of disagreement. This really only exacerbates their problems, as little Jake soon realizes. In an emotional moment of the film, he has an outburst in front of everybody and apologizes to his dad for not talking to him and begs to understand why they are doing this to the Calvelli's. This outburst highlights the importance of communication (sometimes too much of it) and how it has led to the crumbling of relations between these two, once close, families. On this note, however, the observations feel relatively mundane and overly slight. It never dives into them enough and what really makes these people tick. It adds elements - such as Jake likely being gay - to add depth to the characters and add to the realism, but much of it never really impacts the film or the characters in any meaningful way. While that is fine, it would have been nice if it had added to the themes explored in the film or even the overall disintegration of the relationships in the film.

That said, the friendship in the film between Jake and Tony is terrific. Willing to defend each other no matter what, the fast friends are solidly acted by the young actors. They can be loose around one another and express their hopes and dreams, without fear of judgment. They encourage one another from the start and can simply pal around and do whatever. Really a tenderly written friendship, this element of the film is one of the best parts of Little Men and why it deserves the acclaim it has received for the most part. Not too many films create such a delicate and tender look at teenage male friendships, yet this one does and its authenticity is astounding.

The film also introduces an important theme of masculinity. Brian Jardine is not really a man in the eyes of people like Leonor. Her husband is off in Africa being a nurse and she also views this as not manly enough, as he clearly does not provide. Yet, she really looks down on Brian, even telling him that his father thought the same and told her as much. Since Brian is a struggling actor, his psychotherapist wife is the breadwinner and pays for everything they own. Though Brian and his wife Kathy (Jennifer Ehle) are fine with the arrangement, the reversal of gender roles is a tough issue for many to accept and even Brian struggles. You can see that there is something within him that is bothered by this arrangement and a conversation with Leonor really brings it to light. Unfortunately, like many other things in the film, it is introduced and then taken away far too soon.

Little Men is an incredibly slight film. It is too short for the amount of themes it wants to and it approaches those themes tepidly. While it is well acted, the film simply never really does nearly enough with its characters or its themes to be anything more than an above average film with the potential to be better. That said, as a business major, I do appreciate that Sachs took care to not demonize the Jardine family for kicking out Leonor and her business. It is a business decision, pure and simple. I would evict her too.