How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Rating this film PG for "smoking" (it includes an adult cigarette smoker) is the biggest travesty here... There's nothing at all offensive in terms of strong language or sexual situations to warrant anything but a G-rating for this already-came- of-age film. A smaller travesty is that the film is obviously an older reworked script, updated with cell phones and gentrification and featuring athletic boys who avoid pools and implausibly keep their shirts on throughout (as is customary in America now to avoid accusations of child pornography - by contrast, the G-rated coming- of-age French film "My Father's Glory" from the 1990s has boys of a similar age in slo-mo full-frontal nudity). If lusty teen sexuality is what a viewer anticipates with a title like "Little Men," look elsewhere. That being said, the resulting movie is a sublimely watchable and brilliantly engaging story about gentrification and the intimate drama that urban renewal causes. Superb acting and a realistic premise should keep most viewers of serious cinema somewhat rapt and definitely impressed. Yet the finale may be something of a let-down to those who expect an intensive resolution instead of a climax that meanders to a halt.

I'm watching this movie and the biggest problem I see is that I do not care what it tells me. It does not get to me. I think it's not enough to make a social movie so that it becomes interesting. It makes me very long The actors are very well, they all do a good job, but they can not catch me.I think it's due to the tempo of the movie. It is as if it were at idle. There is something about her that she can not walk.I do not like photography. It is a white photograph that is always done in independent projects. I do not know if they do not realize that everything matters.Let's not say the address, it's like it's lost. He does not see that he has no rhythm, no time. His plans are simple, neither compound nor beautiful.For me it will be a movie that will not reach anything else.

The negatives: I have no idea what the themes of this story are, and the two or three that come to mind is depressingly cynical (friends come and go & trying hard/never giving up on your goals is bad ??). It is all over the place! Nothing said or seen has anything to do with anything else. The father, while having a very unique point of view - and probably reveals why his career is where it's at, gives the most random bad advice,.. twice. Also, had the father simply told it like it is, the plot would have been resolved in about 60 seconds. The shop owner seems to be living in her own universe or is even more intellectually-challenged than we are led to believe (which creates the tension for the entire "plot".) The positives: the acting is outstanding from every cast member!! Natural and believable. The actors take what little they are given and take it to another level that, frankly, the plot doesn't deserve. The performances are simply entertaining from start to finish. (There is one scene in particular between the aspiring actor and his acting coach that is absolutely phenomenal!) The cinematography is both beautiful and realistic at the same time. Overall, I really really wanted to like this movie, I truly did. And it is not bad, but it barely gleaned of potential and never really went anywhere with it (which I think was the point.) I'm all for realistic movies, but there needs to be a point if there is no (strong) plot. Thankfully the acting & cinematography were outstanding enough for this not to be a waste of time.

Today there are few American writers who consistently churn out scripts that can be classified as true art films. Ira Sachs is one such writer; with his sensitive eye, he manages to observe true to life characters and present their conflicts in a non-bombastic manner. In the past Sachs has focused on exclusively gay protagonists, but they always have reflected universal themes. Such was the case with his last film, the excellent "Love is Strange," where two middle-aged gay men are forced to live apart after they lose their apartment under unfortunate circumstances.Little Men, a lower stakes effort in comparison to Love is Strange, focuses on a friendship between two pre-pubescent boys that is also threatened by unfortunate circumstances, albeit of a much different variety. When the Jardine family consisting of Brian (Greg Kinnear), a not too successful actor, his wife Kathy (Jennifer Ehle), a psychotherapist and family bread-winner, along with their son, 13 year old Jake (Theo Taplitz), a soft-spoken aspiring artist/illustrator, move into an apartment in Brooklyn after inheriting it from Brian's recently deceased Dad, Brian is forced to make a difficult decision regarding Leonor (Paulina Garcia), who rented store space from Brian's dad way below market price.Leonor also has a 13 year old son, Tony (Michael Barbieri), who immediately bonds with Jake. The aforementioned friendship is threatened when Brian is forced to ask Leonor to pay a much higher rent. Leonor unreasonably feels that since she had a close relationship with Brian's Dad, Brian should cut her some slack. Meanwhile, Brian's sister is also pressuring him to demand that Leonor start paying closer to market rent.The bulk of Act 2 chronicles Jake and Tony's relationship as well as how Brian must explain to Jake why he's putting pressure on Leonor. In addition to the unique narrative regarding the rent dispute, the father- son interactions are a cautionary tale for any young person who believes life follows a pre-determined script and there are no bumps in the road.Little Men isn't as strong when it comes time to wrap things up. In a sense, Sachs becomes boxed in by his story since it's a little too true to life. As you might guess, Leonor ends up with no more cards to play and is forced to give up the store. That of course leads to the dissolution of Tony and Jake's friendship. I kind of wanted to know what happened to Leonor but Sachs chooses not to go into that. We're left with Tony and Jake, both now attending LaGuardia High School but no longer friends or interacting with one another. On a hopeful note, Jake appears to pursue his artistic career despite earlier self-doubts.In the end, the story of the short-lived burgeoning relationship between Tony and Jake is a low-stakes exercise. When Sachs dealt with the separation of two long-time gay lovers in Love is Strange, that was ultimately a tragedy. Here, Tony and Jake knew each other for such a short time, and their ultimate separation strikes one as something that doesn't appear too crushing. Nonetheless, with some great acting from all the principals, and an original plot, Sachs manages to keep us pretty much absorbed until the end. If the stakes are indeed minor, the entire piece is still conveyed in a sophisticated and enlightening way.