Counting down my top 25 favorite films of the last decade and just why I love them.
#22 Little Birds (2011)
Writer / Director: Elgin James / DP: Reed Morano / Composer: Elgin James / Music Supervisor(s): Elizabeth James
Little Birds beautifully displays the physical and emotional implications of abandon and the performances and cinematography win this for me.
Ali and Lily live this adolescent existence where they have responsibilities beyond their scope and perform a role as the stable element in the unstable universes of their respective adults.
Just as Lily approaches her breaking point, on time arrives a team of boys who steal Lily’s gaze and lure the friends away from home to the desolate outskirts and onto L.A.
The boys skate in empty pools, live in an abandoned hotel, and have “abandoned society” altogether.
All these kids have escaped, and they push each opportunity to seriously dangerous limits to sustain their anarchist lifestyle. Lily finds this thrilling…while Ali just hangs, reluctantly, waiting for the whole thing to inevitably burn so she can get her friend back to town in one piece.
I enjoy this film because Ali consistently stands up for herself, no matter how many times she gets negged by Lily or by the boys for being honest, observant, and genuinely concerned.
And Lily *sigh*.
Here’s the trailer ⬇️
indiedigs.com 