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Poster for Little Birds

Little Birds

How far would you go?

2011 · 1h 34m · R Drama
Directed by Elgin James

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Overview

Lily and Alison face a life-changing event after they leave their Salton Sea home and follow the boys they meet back to Los Angeles.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
53%
Tomatometer
Fresh

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.

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
Rotten

The dreamy shots of a poisoned sea in "Little Birds" show an imagination sorely missing from its drab plot and characters.

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post
Rotten

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.

Ian Buckwalter, NPR
Fresh

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.

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Rotten

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.

A.O. Scott, New York Times

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