Little Birds
Little Birds
R | 23 January 2011 (USA)
Little Birds Trailers

Lily and Alison face a life-changing event after they leave their Salton Sea home and follow the boys they meet back to Los Angeles.

Reviews
Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!
Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?
Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
secondtake Little Birds (2011)A harrowing movie, a slice of very believable and scary life for two fifteen year olds looking to escape their awkward or dysfunctional families. What they get into, moving from the Salton Sea to L.A. in a stolen truck, is a nightmare for any parent. Yet for the girls there is a mixture of adventure and discomfort.All of this depends a lot on a great ensemble cast, which is pretty much here. The two girls are terrific--I had just seen Juno Temple in another excellent indie and sought this out. The boys they run into and hook up with are a little wild at first (and then more wild later) and weave into the story with surprising ease.This is a low budget movie but it makes the most of a series of scenes inside and out that keep it from feeling constrained. The Salton Sea parts are both beautiful an so impoverished they are sad. When the edge of L.A. comes in it's rougher and yet filled with energy. The girls are divided on how the city works on them. Temple's character is exudes confidence, and sometimes has it, too, and so she gets in deeper. The other girl, played by Kay Panabaker, is more morally solid and yet more scared, and she plays a perfect counterbalance to her friend.Writer and director Elgin James is just starting out here (that's part of what Indie films are all about) and the movie might not soar or show particular originality, but it does hold up pretty well in normal dramatic terms. The sets are very real--gritty and rough, for sure--and the acting matches. It's quite well shot, too, if nothing special is going on--give the editors some of the credit for keeping it fluid.You wonder by the end what the larger point might be, beyond a very distracting entertainment. There might be a little (a little) sense of "there's no place like home" at work. And there's a kind of buddy movie at work--the two girls being the pals on the road. Mostly it's about how tough some teens have it, and how they want to find ways to survive that surprise their parents (usually singular, parent). It's also a tale of how kids want a lot from everyone and everything--life seems so fertile and large--and how they know so little about how to get it.So, with vulnerability on their sleeves, these girls are a little bit of all of us. No, we aren't all so fully stupid or careless, but maybe in small ways we are all the same.
KineticSeoul This is another one of those movies with a girl that has emotional issues because of superficial problems. And has a friend tagging along. And in movies like this they can be the loyal and righteous friend or the one that is a complete negative influence. In this it's the loyal and righteous friend and the main protagonist Lily Hobart(Juno Temple) is the one that is trying to find acceptance and pleasure. And thus joins up with few troublesome skateboarders. The thing is it's difficult to sympathize with a character like Lily Hobart in this when she has a loving mother and a loyal friend and hasn't been emotionally screwed by other people harming her physically. I can sympathize with Juno Temple's role in "Killer Joe" but not really in this one. Plus after watching "Beasts of the Southern Wild" the problem the protagonist faces is way far from being as bad. She just comes off a uptight selfish girl that uses other people and gets used as well. I don't know but I got kinda numb to these types of movies after a while. These types of movies are watchable in my opinion but just far from being all that entertaining. Some have sorta engaging aspects going for it but not really in this one. Besides certain parts about peer pressure, this one is passable.5.5/10
Leah Zapp this movie was unique in several ways which was very refreshing. sure, it may have had the whole "small town teenage girl dying for an escape" plot cliché, but it was made into something very different and raw from what you would normally see. the plot (climax especially) was unlike what you would see in most movies. the characters were extremely genuine. the relationship between Lily (Juno Temple) and Alison (Kay Panabaker) was extremely touching and a little bit depressing how much Alison relied on Lily. the dynamic between the two was very authentic and usually what you would observe between any two close, young female friends. overall, the writer and director captured the essence of this movie perfectly, leaving you with wandering thoughts at the end. if you're open minded and looking for a movie with a different sort of perspective, i highly recommend Little Birds.
usernumber655321 I was tricked into giving this film a look after seeing a well edited preview. With all due respect to all the people who worked on this thing, it is absolutely horrible. To be fair, there are approximately three to four well framed pieces of cinematography. Other than that, this is utter garbage. The filmmaker 'gazes' mercilessly at his fifteen year old protagonist from beginning (the film literally opens with her naked in a bath tub) to end. The metaphors are obvious and clunky. The story the same 'got to get out of this boring town' cliché that we've all seen ninety six times already. It is essentially straight forward, artless, misanthropy. Pretty much every thing about this film is absolutely embarrassing. Whoever at Sundance decided to insure the making of this film should be promptly fired.