LITTLE WOMEN (Greta Gerwig 2019). Every generation needs a new Little Women movie and Gerwig has delivered this warm and loving one, with Saoirse Ronan, her protagonist in her debut feature Lady Bird, as Jo, and Timothée Chalamet and Louis Garrel as notable men in her life, Laurie and Friedrich Bhaer. It's a high-speed, frenzied account. Playing with the chronology, against the advice of my late friend and ace editor Richard Todd, causes confusion about the development of these characters and their relationships. I show this on reporting from a new viewing of Gillian Armstrong's 1994 version, which holds up well. But any adaptation of this bustling novel is a thing of vignettes anyway, and much survives. Watched at Hilltop on opening day, Christmas 2019. Metascore 91%