Little Boxes

It tackles topics such as coming of age, sexual exploration, race and class. The acting was pretty good. Had some good cinematic shots and you definitely see the characters develop. The film did have me on my toes at times but there was always some light humour to release the tension. I love how subtle yet impactful some of the moments of emotion were in the film. From the silence, to the cut to black screen with some dialogue still going on. Interesting film to watch. However I do feel that it had the potential to deliver much more. Was missing something, not sure what.

Little Boxes made of ticky tacky Little boxes moving to a small town, where they don't look the same. There's a black one and a white one and the one they made that's in-between and these boxes from Brooklyn are having a hard time adjusting to a vastly different way of life.

So the idea of Little Boxes is that Clark Burns, an eleven year old kid from liberated New York, moves to Rome...Washington, were he's one of two black people living there. The other being his father Mack who is also feeling the awkwardness of being in a place where it seems for a lot of them he's the only black person they ever met, which brings us to Gina, the White woman pretty much responsible for bringing them there do to her job and is feeling the pressure of not fully understanding the situation.

The social commentary is very subtle, but ringing loud and clear. I actually loved the contrast of Mack hanging with his boys back in Brooklyn (one black one white), and being comfortable to be politically incorrect, then coming to Rome where the slightest miss use of words has the white folks questioning themselves. Although as the movie brings up, Mack also can't help but to be sensitive to what the town folks think of him.

But if I'm selling this to you as a comedy I want to point out that the funniest parts of the movie have nothing to do with any political issue, and everything to do with just very basic family matters type stuff. Moving to a new territory is difficult and the best hi jinks come from the new family in town just trying to deal.

Nice little movie parading some big topics in a light hearted way.

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I do understand that some people think it is a boring film, but on the contrary it is a nice realistic film about a normally mixed family moving from a city to a village. And the difference in lifestyle in both cities. It is an adult movie that many people can agree with, also funny. Therefore for me a more than sufficient, a 6.5

This has comedy elements in it and is socially aware. Although some may think this does cling on to cliches too much. Whatever you may think this does seem to be an accurate depictal of the troubles and worries of raising a child. The influences the kid is under, the stress and issues parents have. It's anything but overloaded though. It does have music in it, that some may find offensive, especially in connection with young kids.

But it's not like this is far from reality. And the movie does not offer you solutions in the traditional sense or any of that stuff. So while the cliche argument may be true, you can't fault the movie for being too sensitive and "cute". The acting is really good and there is a lot to love of the movie

"You are so interesting." (White townie to new black resident)

Little Boxes is a little film that wants to be more than it is. While it would like to be a quirky tale of an interracial family moving from NYC to white Washington State, it's a slow moving story of a few dysfunctions on the part of the rural town faced with the black and white presence and awkwardly responding to it.

The white mother, Gina, played underwhelming by Melanie Lynskey, accepts a tenure-track job at Rome College with perks her black writer husband, Mack (Nelsan Ellis), appreciates if only because his second book is taking a great deal of time. Eleven-year- old son, Clark (Armani Jackson), is experiencing a new life with a couple of 11-year-old girls, nothing grand, just the kind of pre-teen exploration that seems awfully tame from my jaded point of view.

The meaty issues that hover over the biracial motif are meekly treated by a few pedestrian lines such as a young girl exclaiming the town needs a black: "We like totally needed a black kid. This town is SO white!" Or about husband a neighbor says, "If you close your eyes you can't even tell he's black." The mold hiding in the family's house is hardly a hidden metaphor. Embarrassing stuff

The only excitement in this turgid melodrama is when Clark gets in trouble for boyish misdeeds, odd actually for such a nice kid. I'm trying not to mention the four female professors at bad karaoke while over drinking on their regular lunch break. Even worse Gina is criticized for getting "sloppy" in a small town--a definite no no and a signal of intolerance almost unheard of in Brooklyn.

Clearly Little Boxes (hmm, people trapped? town?) is not in the suburban satirical league of Ice Storm and American Beauty. Even in the final act, a resolution occurs so quickly as to be unbelievable. But I'm not going to spoil one of the only spirited parts of the film.