Little Men
Cert: PG. In selected cinemas. Brian (Greg Kinnear) is a struggling stage actor who relocates wife Kathy (Jennifer Ehle) and 13-year-old son Jake (Theo Taplitz) to his late father’s Brooklyn apartment. The building has a tenant in the form of ground-floor store-owner Leonor (Pauline Gracia) and her young son Tony (Michael Barbieri).
Jake and Tony quickly form a steadfast friendship and become inseparable despite being quite different lads. Jake is shy, artistic and gentle, while Tony is mouthy, cocksure and brash. Parallel to their comradeship, Brian is addressing the nature of Leonor’s tenancy. She has been paying way below market rate for the shop thanks to Brian’s soft-touch father. Under pressure from his sister, Brian suggests a moderate rent increase to try and keep everyone happy. Leonor is unimpressed and digs her heels in. The strife naturally threatens the boys’ friendship.
Memphis filmmaker Ira Sachs’s seventh film is a delicate and unobtrusive naturalist drama that sits back and watches human interaction take its course. The central bromance between these boys, both making their first steps towards adulthood, is very touching to behold, largely due to the excellent performances of the two youngsters. Kinnear brings sincerity to the role of the husband and father trying to balance his duties to individual family members while Garcia is an exercise in miffed restraint.
Sachs’s less-is-more directing style does make for some stunning moments between Jake and Tony where the mood crackles with a low-wattage hum. For some, however, Little Men may prove slightly too threadbare in both premise and execution to fully invest in. HHHH HILARY A WHITE