The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 20, 1995 Page: 10 of 16
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10 friday, january 20. 1995 the rice thresher
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
A Touchy Feely Flick
Armstrong's 'little Women:' Not just for chicks anymore
by kristian lin
The first part of this review is ad-
dressed specifically to the men read-
ing this, since the audience at the
theater in which I saw this film was
about 95 percent female.
Guys, we're in possession of a great
secret. See, everyone has the wrong
preconceptions about the latest film
adaptation of Ixrnisa May Alcott's novel
Little Women. You see the ads for a
movie about four girls growing up in
1860s New England, with Winona
Ryder flouncing around in period
dresses, and you can already hear
Wayne and Garth saying, "It's such
chick movie." Some people even think
it's just for litde girls.
Well, we know better; Little Women
is a literate, moving, unsentimental
and astonishingly mature film about
growing up.
The story takes place in New Hamp-
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shire, where Mrs. March (Susan
Sarandon) raises her four daughters
while her husband fights in the Civil
War.
Fiery Jo (Ryder) wavers between
"loVe for childhood friend Laurie (Chris-
tian Bale) and an older German pro-
fessor (Gabriel Byrne), eventually
going to New York to pursue a literary
career.
Sensible Meg (Trini Alvarado) ro-
mances Laurie's tutor (Eric Stoltz),
while fragile Beth (Claire Danes) fights
to overcome her poor health and snob-
bish Amy (Kirsten Dunst for the film's
first half, Samantha Mathis for the
second) tries her hand at art.
Scriptwriter Robin Swicord and
director Gillian Armstrong walk a tight-
rope in their efforts to make the seem-
ingly trivial events in the March home
take on their due significance in the
lives of these characters. Yet they
never inflate or strain for effect.
I like the way the film presents the
March home as a loving one but never
pretends that it's paradise. The sisters
dote on each other, but sibling rival-
ries show themselves in Jo's jealousy
of Meg's romance and Amy's burning
of some of Jo's literary work in a fit of
pique. Home may be a good place to
return to, but Jo comes to feel frus-
trated at the prospect of being cooped
up there and unable to work.
Armstrong especially helps the
picture build momentum. Whether
she's being inspirational, witty or el-
egiac, you never sense that a moment
is going to waste. Best of all, she gives
the actors room to work.
And they deliver. Ryder usually
comes off as chilly and stiff in costume
dramas; here she turns in a coura-
geous performance, bringing the sort
of life to Jo that she has until now
brought only to her comic roles.
Ryder's line readings might sound
overly modern to some, especially
when she has to deliver some out-
dated 19th century expressions, but
J o's progressive ou tiook renders them
credible. Katharine Hepburn commu-
nicates Jo's high aspirations in the
film's 1933 version, but Ryder also
takes care to register the way in which
Winona Ryder combines spirit and refinement in her portrayal of Jo March.
unremarkable events affect her. Ge-
nius is in the details.
Ryder is by no means alone in her
excellence. The March sisters are all
exceptional. Dunst is very funny as an
affected 12-year-old, and Stoltz is deli-
ciously uptight. Bale's performance is
nicely turned, with equal parts of
charm, sulkiness and genuine warmth.
Beth is probably the worst role in
the story for an actress, but you
wouldn't know that from watching
Danes. She's even more at home in
the period than Ryder (how different
from her work on "My So-Called
Life"!), and she cuts through the air of
doom that usually surrounds Beth.
Many an actress would have made
Beth's final scene unwatchable, but
Danes gives it a power all its own.
Watch theexpression in her eyes when
SEE WOMEN, PAGE 11
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Hale, David. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 15, Ed. 1 Friday, January 20, 1995, newspaper, January 20, 1995; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246500/m1/10/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.