Film Reviews



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Best Video 2009
American Library Association’s Booklist






“The dramatically reenacted documentary gives life and texture to a woman of extraordinary talent and determination who became as great a celebrity in her day as J.K. Rowling is in ours.”
- Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times
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“playful”… “inspiring” - VOGUE

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“clever… stunning” - Booklist
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“This wonderful documentary approaches the biography of Louisa May Alcott (1832-88) with a lively enthusiasm”… “highly recommended.” - Video Librarian

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“Viewers will be inspired”… “An excellent choice for public, school, and academic libraries and fans of classics.”
- Library Journal
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“The documentary has succeeded in creating a brilliantly complex portrait of its subject, in which Louisa shines through in all her humor, vitality, and edginess…[the ] film rise[s] to the highest standards of quality and insight… remarkable economy of storytelling.”
- John Matteson, author 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography,
Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father

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“(****) FOUR-STARS… The documentary is an education about the period in American history and the Alcotts’ friendships with the leading reformers of their day.” - Jean Westmoore,
The Buffalo News

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“People think they know Louisa May Alcott through Little Women, but her life—especially the dark side—is unexpectedly, extremely interesting. Truly a wonderful story.” - Robert Mandel, Dean, American Film Institute Conservatory

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“Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind ‘Little Women’ ’’ manages to penetrate the facts of Louisa May Alcott’s life (1832-1888) to get at her humor, her spirit, and her growth as a person. With a smart, tasteful use of docudramatic re-creations, director Nancy Porter gives us the story of a writer’s interior world and genesis with more drama and color than you generally expect from a 90-minute documentary.
- The Boston Globe
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Elizabeth Marvel completely owns this film with a performance that brings her from happy and bubbly to heartbroken and back again, with just the right touch of pixie-ish charm. Terrifically edited…As if the film didn’t have enough panache, [it] also includes some hip and stylized animated sequences, just for fun. - Cambridge Chronicle

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“(*****) FIVE-STARS…full of humor, passion, and emotion…” - Providence Journal
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“A wonderful, heartfelt, inventive, and brave telling of an inspiring and poignant story. The directing is divine, the animation is inspired and [Reisen and Porter] managed to make a very contemporary film about the 1800s and the transcendentalists.”
- Denise DiIanni, Executive in Charge, Boston Media Productions, WGBH

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“Other than Hal Halbrook’s Mark Twain, I can’t think of another literary figure that’s brought so realistically to life.”
- James Plath, DVDTown
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“Beautiful. An extraordinary work of art. Brilliantly crafted, it did not have a slow moment.”
- Diane Mason, Artistic Director, Through Women’s Eyes Film Festival,
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)

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