Little Men

Tony in acting class

When the evening temperature in Seattle hovers at an uncomfortable 90 degrees, there's nothing like a 7 p.m. movie in an air conditioned movie theater to improve one's mood.  Especially when the movie's shown in a luxury class Sundance theater.

And so, after reading rave reviews, I went to see Ira Sach's film Little Men.  Read the reviews yourself.  The New York Times, the New Yorker -- and a 96 percent favorable critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  I'll just add my cheers.

Briefly, the story takes place in a gentrifying area of Brooklyn, where Brian (a "not that successful" actor) and Kathy (a psychologist) have inherited a building with a residence upstairs and a business downstairs.  The downstairs is occupied by a dress shop run by a friendly, hardworking, but taciturn seamstress and proprietor, an immigrant from Chile, played absolutely magnificently by Pauline García.  Brian discovers that his father had been renting the shop to her for years at a rent far below market.  He and his family move to the Brooklyn building from Manhattan.  They intend to put the rental back on a rational business footing.

The couple have a son, Jake, and the renter has a son Tony.  Both boys are 13.  Jake is an introverted aspiring artist; Tony is an extraverted aspiring actor.  They bond almost instantly into a touchingly close friendship.  The actors playing the boys are also outstanding -- playing their parts with a high degree of early adolescent energy, with humor, with deep sincerity, and ultimately with pathos. 

They dream of starting high school together at La Guardia high school, a highly selective public school near Lincoln Center specializing in the visual and performing arts.  After several halcyon weeks together, however, zooming around Brooklyn on scooter and skates, their parents begin trying to pull them apart as relations over a new lease quickly become strained.

All the adults act reasonably from their own points of view.  The parents of both boys are loving and proud parents.  But the devastating effect of their business quarrel on the two boys is low on their set of concerns, certainly far lower than their concern over the amount of rent. 

The end is predictable.  We see Jake, a year older, alone, painting at La Guardia.  Tony has disappeared, presumably slipping with his mother into a poorer neighborhood with less demanding rents.  Jake's eyes light up for a moment in an art museum when he spots Tony visiting with a group from school.

Tony doesn't see Jake. He walks away.

Ira Sach's direction is perfect.  The acting by all actors blew me away.  The photography of the adults, of the kids, of Brooklyn, is beautiful and striking.  Brian acts in a Chekhov play within the movie, and the movie itself has been described as "Chekhovian." I hope the subtlety of the script and of the acting doesn't doom it with today's public.

I left the theater pensive, sad, but pleased with my investment of a couple of cool hours in overheated Seattle.
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(8-26-16) The film was shown in Seattle for seven days at one theater. It then disappeared, most likely to reappear eventually in the world of Netflix. My hopes for its popularity have been apparently dashed.