Growing up can be a lot more difficult when you don’t have the support system in place to help navigate those years that are formative in our identity, but are not any less challenging. For the protagonists in Little Men, their daily routine is built around trying to achieve their dreams, with only marginal support from their respective parents, who are too ingrained in their own lives to ever pay attention to their sons or what they are hoping to accomplish. Ira Sachs is a terrific director, and he uses these ideas to craft yet another small and delightfully charming film, in which he examines the overlapping lives of two teenagers as they bond over shared interests, particularly their family background, which may be different in structure and heritage, but nonetheless have several characteristics in common. These are the principle ideas that push this film forward, and considering Sachs has more than proven his mettle as one of the most fundamentally gifted writer-directors working in contemporary independent cinema, it seems unlikely that we were ever going to get a version of this film that was not an enthralling and captivating examination of various themes, all strung together to form a funny, heartfelt and often quite emotional story that is far more than just the sum of its parts, and actually manages to be insightful in ways that would be surprising, especially for those who are not entirely convinced to the merits of the narrative, which are nonetheless captured in vivid detail throughout this film, which is far better than many may give it credit for, or assume based on its very straightforward premise and seemingly unfurnished execution, all of which are indicative of the director’s firm attention to delivering striking stories in simple but evocative ways. A small story with an enormous heart and an even bigger sense of affection for the human condition, Little Men is a wonderful surprise and a truly lovely film.

The coming-of-age narrative is one of the most common in the history of literature, and it takes a great artist to turn it into something inventive and meaningful, rather than relying on hackneyed perspectives that add very little (if anything) to the conversation. Sachs was ultimately challenging himself with Little Men, which stands out quite significantly in comparison to his other films, which are almost universally focused on adult characters, and where children and teenagers are supplementary, if not entirely peripheral. In this film, we explore the budding friendship between two boys who have only just reached the threshold of adolescence, and are working as hard as they can to forge a path for themselves, working towards an uncertain but exciting future. There is obviously a lot of self-referential storytelling on the part of Sachs and co-screenwriter Mauricio Zacharias, who may not be telling their story, but rather are pulling from some of their experiences, especially as people who clearly have been artistically inclined for quite some time. Little Men offers a slightly different perspective on the coming-of-age narrative, since this is a film about a saga between two feuding families, as seen through the eyes of their sons, who form a strong bond that is threatened by their parents’ hubris and refusal towards compromise. Not quite as adherent to the Romeo and Juliet trope as it may appear, but there is certainly some sense of similarity in how we see a strong connection formed between these characters that causes them to question whether they care enough about this friendship to go against their family’s wishes, or if blood is ultimately thicker than water, despite their domestic situation not being particularly ideal in either case, leading to a complex and deeply provocative investigation into these two families as they come to terms with major changes that uproot their lives, and the impact it has on these boys in their formative years.

Based on the overall premise, it was important that every character in Little Men was played by someone who could capture the fact that each one of these people is profoundly flawed, and that they are all defined by a blend of merits and shortcomings that almost cancel each other out, leaving them stagnant. Sachs always brings out the best in his actors, and that was quite important in this film, which depended on them to not only sell the story, but also the more abstract moments where the film is at its most atmospheric. Greg Kinnear is the kind of actor that is only as good as the material he is given, and Little Men proves to be one of his better performances, proving that he is at his best when playing more subtle characters. Both he and Jennifer Ehle deliver heartfelt performances as a middle-class couple trying to navigate personal challenges while also dealing with major changes in their life, which calls into question their ability to be good parents to a son that truly does need a guiding hand. Paulina Garcia, one of the great actors of her generation, is spellbinding as the tenant who starts as a wise mentor to these characters, but eventually proves to be far more of a menace, but not without reason, since she is also dealing with her own individual challenges. However, the true stars of Little Men are obviously the titular characters themselves – neither Theo Taplitz or Michael Barbieri had any acting experience prior to this film, and while it would be ideal to state that they were natural talents that proved to be almost prodigious from the start, these are clearly performances given by inexperienced actors who have only just stepped into the profession and therefore run into the usual pratfalls of stilted line readings and slightly unstable delivery in certain moments. However, this is not a shortcoming, and unexpectedly becomes one of the most memorable aspects of the film – both of the protagonists are young men trying to find their place in the world, but are constantly challenged by their insecurities. They are rough around the edges and are still finding their voice – and the two leading performances are similarly compelling for the same reason, being imperfect but still very moving.

Sachs’ approach is usually to not take risks that are too bold for his style, instead choosing more simple, straightforward narratives that are driven by his sense of taking specific themes on meditating on them, finding the complexity in the most seemingly simple of scenarios. Little Men is not a film that tends to be all that daring in terms of how it explores its themes – it’s a very funny film, but it does have a more quiet sensibility, which matches with what we have come to expect from Sachs, who seems to be focused on capturing the smallest and most intimate moments in the lives of these characters. Not quite social realism, since there is always a sense of slightly off-kilter humour in a lot of his films, Little Men is still a film in which the atmosphere overtakes the narrative as the primary channel in which the director conveys particular ideas. He works to establish a specific mood, which is more quiet and tranquil, but never lacking in a very unique energy that he perfectly captures, using it as the foundation for every moment in which the film reaches an emotional crescendo, which are still quite subtle, but do tend to have a lot of emotional resonance. There is very little reason to expect Little Men to be a bombastic affair, since it is a story that benefits from a more subdued approach, where we find the simpler the emotions on screen, the more effective the story becomes, as we are drawn into this world and given the chance to follow these characters as they negotiate not only their family situation and the changes that come about as a result, but also their identity. This in particular is one of Sachs’ most consistent themes, and while it isn’t necessarily central to the story, we do find some very touching moments in which the concept of gender and sexuality is explored, albeit in a more quiet way as not to distract from the more notable themes that drive the story forward. Intimate about often quite moving, this film conveys a remarkable sense of self-awareness that we don’t often being quite as effective as we do here, where even the smallest moments are filled with such incredible nuance.

Little Men is very rarely cited as being one of Sachs’ best works – it doesn’t have the emotional inventory of Love Is Strange, or the boundary-pushing audacity of Keep the Lights On, or the sheer ambition of Passages, all of which are signature works that mostly define his career. However, what this film does have is something much more valuable, which is a sense of genuine heart and soul, which is beautifully put together throughout the film, formed into something truly special and often unexpectedly delightful. It’s not a film that relishes in being an endless stream of jokes, but rather a more dramatic effort that makes good use of moments of tender humour to break the slightly more downbeat examination of these families facing themes as dire as unemployment, gentrification and crises of identity, all of which are seamlessly woven into the fabric of this film, which is a powerful and profoundly moving exploration of human connection, as seen through the perspective of two families doing whatever they can to survive in a rapidly changing world. Sachs is a great director, but his more quiet style of storytelling has made him slightly divisive, since the quieter, meditative nature of his films sometimes come across as too low-energy, especially when dealing with a story that had a lot of space to explore deeper and provide a more traditional approach. He is not a director that has ever spared too much thought to tradition, and we find ourselves so incredibly moved by what he is doing in this very simple, heartfelt drama, it is difficult to not find value in what we see reflected on screen. He touches on important subjects, but none more integral than that of finding the beauty in everyday life, and he develops something so profoundly moving in Little Men, which may not be a work that defines his career right now, but will likely be seen as one of his major achievements in the future, where he will hopefully be lauded as one of the most important filmmakers of his generation, a worthy title for anyone who produces such intriguing, captivating works that condense the human condition into such meaningful stories.