Fleeing from the hard and miserable life they have, Lily and Alison, two young teenager girls, who have completely different personalities, accompany a group of boys from Los Angeles, the thing that tears them.
Despair may be an emotion of emptiness, of the absence of hope, but that doesn't mean a movie about someone spiraling down into that emotion has to feel so empty as well.
It is hard not to be reminded of other movies - like Larry Clark's "Kids," Nick Cassavetes's "Alpha Dog," Andrea Arnold's "Fish Tank" - that explore similar territory with greater risk and originality.
Sly Fox
December 29, 2012
Quirky tale of female empowerment about coming of age on L.A.'s mean streets.
Entertainment Weekly
August 29, 2012
There's a moralistic structure there, but it leaves Lily in a place that's scarcely more reassuring than the one she first abandoned. That's what makes Little Birds not just a lesson but, in its rambling way, an organic journey.
Like its teenage heroine, "Little Birds" is stubbornly convinced of its own unique profundity. So it's a good thing this moodily self-absorbed drama redeems itself with just enough endearing innocence.
There have been a bunch of films about teen girls with a wild streak getting in over their heads, and Little Birds isn't all that different, though it does have a bit more of a sense that this is the teen feeling it, not the adult looking back.
Though the plotting is problematic and at times as lost as the kids, there are bursts of brilliance and moments of aching vulnerability in "Little Birds" that make you wonder what the filmmaker might do next.
