Little Women

(G) ★★★★½

Director: Greta Gerwig.

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel, Chris Cooper.

Surfs up, dudes.

Next time someone complains about the endless remakes, reboots and do-overs coming out of Hollywood, point them towards this adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's semi-autobiographical 1860s classic. It's the seventh version of this story, and the second one in two years, but it finds fresh and vital ways to tell its old tale, making it relevant for a new audience.

It's the vitality and life that makes Gerwig's version so enjoyable, but it's her ability to re-frame Alcott's words and themes with a contemporary eye that make it so unmissable. For all its changes, which might annoy purists, Gerwig has remained faithful to the essence of the text and the heart of the March girls. It makes for a vibrant and modern take on this story of girls becoming women and finding their place in a world that has very set ideas about where that place should be.

Little Women follows the four March sisters - Meg (Watson), Jo (Ronan), Amy (Pugh) and Beth (Scanlen). As the story jumps backwards and forwards in time, we see how their dreams of following their artistic passions are challenged, and how their various relationships impact their lives and family.

Gerwig's non-linear approach to the plot takes some getting used to but it serves the material well, giving us great juxtapositions to show how the characters have changed, as well as helping to condense Alcott's hefty tome. These time shifts are done with simple yet beautiful cinematic elegance - a warm sunlit nostalgia bathes most of the "past" scenes while a sombre grey tints the "present" ones. As the film's mood changes and the cuts back and forth escalate, it becomes more testing for the viewer, but for the most part it works wonderfully.

It's part of the genius of Gerwig's adapted screenplay (which is surely an Oscar shoe-in in that category). Like a good cover version of a song, she gets what is essential to the artwork and is happy to drop parts and change others, all the while never losing sight of what made it work in the first place, such as the relationship between the sisters and their varying views on love and a woman's role in a patriarchal society.

All of these aspects roar off the screen, driven not only by Gerwig and Alcott's combined dialogue, but by Ronan's fierce performance as the fiery Jo. Similarly, Pugh's turn as the confident Amy is equally spirited. These are but two great acting displays amid a wonderful cast - Streep steals scenes, Dern is light but powerful touch, Cooper is touching in a small role, Watson and Scanlen are excellent despite being overshadowed, while Chalamet is outstanding as the dashingly louche Laurie.

Along with an out-and-proud update of the book's feminist ideas, Gerwig's brings modern indie filmmaking flourishes to her direction. There are piles of overlapping dialogue, a couple of straight-to-camera moments, and a wonderfully meta ending that would hopefully have done Alcott proud. It all adds to the vibrancy of the film.

There is so much to love about this energetic retelling of an American classic, which deserves every award it can get this awards season.