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