So, my takeaway from Ira Sachs' Little Men is that gentrification is alright as long as the white people forcing the non-white people out of their homes feel really, really, really, really, really bad about it. Alright, I'm being facetious: Little Men is fine. It's got great performances all around--especially from Michael Barbieri--and there's a gentle, truthful eye for adolescent behavior. Yeah, the two boys might be little bastards for the silent treatment they give their parents, but they still seem like humans and not conveyor belt Hollywood children. My problem is that Little Men is the kind of film that attempts to view mankind as through a microscope--not judging their actions, just observing. The whole point is that everybody is selfish, everybody has the capacity to hurt others. But yeah, no. I don't buy into the film's attempts at morale ambiguity. There's a clear bad guy here: Brian Jardine (Greg Kinnear). This middle-aged man would rather chase his acting pipe dreams than actually quit, get a real job, support his family, and not evict a poor immigrant family living in their building. Yeah, life's unfair. Get over it. Get a real job. Don't go ruining other people's lives, throw up your hands, and say "ah...life's so callous, ain't it?"
Ass.
6/10
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