Little Man Tate

Dir: Jodie Foster

1991

***

1991's Little Man Tate is well written, a bit dream-like and full of heart, it shouldn't however, be taken particularly seriously. It is the story of a child prodigy with Asperger's syndrome who comes from a humble home, living with his hard-working, wise-talking mother (played by Jodie Foster). When Fred (the little man Tate) is discovered to be highly intelligent, his mother becomes ever so slightly separated from her son as their strong bond becomes strained. Fred's curiosity soon needs attention and a school for gifted children soon gets in contact. As the Tate's aren't very wealthy, it is agreed that Fred is tutored for free by specialist teacher Jane Grierson (played by Dianne Wiest), although Fred's mother soon has reservations, not only because she is to become separated from her son but also because she feels that Jane is becoming too close to Fred and could be taking advantage of him for her own personal and professional development. The story is about how little Fred navigates his way through life with the mind of a genius, held back by Asperger's syndrome. It's sweet, it's lovely and it has plenty of that early 90s nostalgia that I have little resistance against. However, it gets Asperger's syndrome so incredibly wrong, it's hard to take seriously. I blame Rain Man in many respects but at least Dustin Hoffman's character showed real signs of the syndrome. Jodie Foster's direction isn't perfect but I actually quite liked it and I would argue that for a debut that wasn't planned it's very strong. Many people involved in the film were vocal in their disapproval of Foster's directional methods - in particular Dianne Wiest who, in a poorly judged moment of professionalism, criticized her in an interview with a visiting journalist while they were filming, and apparently one of the producers threw his mobile phone through Foster's car windscreen when filming over ran by a few days (mobile phones were quite big in those days). It is a bit of a mystery as to why original director Joe Dante walked out of the project so late in the day but it is a bigger mystery as to why a director with his unique style was hired in the first place, as I can't how his talents suited the story at all. The film's main strengths are the great script and the brilliant debut performance from young Adam Hann-Byrd. Foster is great and I love Dianne Wiest but Hann-Byrd pretty much carries the whole film on his small shoulders. The ending is something of an anti-climax in many respects but it somehow works and works really well. It's a little too sugary than it should have been but I enjoyed it.