Writer-director Ira Sachs was raised in Memphis before moving to New York City, but you can tell he’s a New Yorker now because he’s so preoccupied with real estate. In his acclaimed indie drama Love Is Strange (2014) a longtime gay couple are forced to separate when they lose their condominium in Manhattan, and the pain of longing is only increased by the awkward living arrangements each is forced to make on his own. Now Sachs is back with Little Men, a quiet but engrossing drama about two schoolboys whose friendship is tested by their respective parents’ landlord-tenant conflict. That’s all there is to the story, but that’s all Sachs needs, because as any renter understands, losing a lease can change not only your address but your whole life. “I think all my films are about intimacy and economics, and how those things play out together,” the filmmaker recently told the Daily Beast. In the last two, those economics can be measured in square footage.
Leonor understands what’s coming, and she resorts to all manner of emotional manipulation to strengthen her weak hand. When Anthony gets into a fistfight at school defending Jake’s good name, Leonor makes sure that Jake knows about it. Cornered by Brian at last, she coldly puts him in his place: “Your father and I were very good friends. We spent a lot of time together. What you and your sister don’t understand is that your father wanted me to stay. He thought of me as part of this house, part of this neighborhood. I was more his family, if you wanna know, than you were.” There’s no way to know whether this arrogant statement is true, and Brian is too pleasant a fellow to point out that his father never arranged to provide for Leonor in the event of his death.
Directed by Ira Sachs
