Holiday Classics: Little Women (1994)
- Today, Dec 21
- Sun, Dec 22
Sun, Dec 22 @ 4:30 pm: 4K Presentation
Director: Gillian Armstrong Run Time: 115 min. Release Year: 1994
Starring: Christian Bale, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, Samantha Mathis, Susan Sarandon, Trini Alvarado, Winona Ryder
Country: United States, Canada
Language: English
About the film:
With her husband off at war, Marmee (Susan Sarandon) is left alone to raise their four daughters, her Little Women. There is the spirited Jo (Winona Ryder in an Academy Award-nominated role); conservative Meg (Trini Alvarado); fragile Beth (Claire Danes); and romantic Amy (played at different ages by Kristen Dunst and Samantha Mathis).
As the years pass, the sisters share some of the most cherished and painful memories of self-discovery, as Marmee and Aunt March (Mary Wickes) guide them through issues of independence, romance and virtue. Gabriel Byrne, Eric Stoltz, and Christian Bale co-star.
“More than the sumptuous holiday imagery and festive music that makes it a fun film to watch, it’s a bittersweet reminder to cherish our time together… We need more movies like it—at Christmas, and all the time.”
—Shannon Campe, The Spool
Based on Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel, the film received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress (Ryder), Best Costume Design (Colleen Atwood), and Best Original Score for acclaimed composer Thomas Newman (1994’s The Shawshank Redemption, 1999’s American Beauty).
About the filmmaker:
Gillian Armstrong is an Australian filmmaker and was the first president of the Australian Director’s Guild. Her contributions to the film industry have been recognized with numerous awards, including with an ADG Outstanding Achievement Award and an Australian Film Institute Best Director Award as well as festival nominations for a Palme D’Or, two Golden Bears, and a Sundance Grand Jury Prize.
She made her feature debut at the Cannes Film Festival with My Brilliant Career (1979), which launched the career of Judy Davis and marked the first feature-length film directed by a woman in Australia for almost 50 years. She made her Hollywood debut with Mrs. Soffel (1984), but it was Little Women (1994) that truly cemented her reputation in the United States. She later teamed up with Cate Blanchett on back-to-back films: Oscar and Lucinda (1997) and Charlotte Gray (2001). Her most recent feature was the documentary Women He’s Undressed, which premiered at the 2015 Sydney Film Festival.
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