Little Manhattan (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Little Manhattan | |
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| Directed by | Mark Levin |
| Produced by | Gavin Polone |
| Written by | Jennifer Flackett |
| Starring | Josh Hutcherson Charlie Ray Cynthia Nixon Bradley Whitford |
| Music by | Chad Fisher |
| Cinematography | Tim Orr |
| Editing by | Alan Edward Bell |
| Running time | 84 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Little Manhattan is a romantic comedy film directed and written by husband and wife Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett. Though Levin is credited as the director and Flackett as the writer, in the film's DVD commentary the two reveal that they collaborated on both tasks.
Little Manhattan depicts the story of ten-year-old Gabe's realization that girls can be pretty and, well, pretty nice to be with. The story takes place, and was filmed on location, in Manhattan's Upper West Side.
[edit] Synopsis
It's puppy love in the Upper West Side, as we are introducted to our narrator, a 10-year-old boy named Gabe. He lives in a typical boy's world filled with men. To him and his friends, girls are nothing more than carriers of the disease known as cooties.
While he and his father have a master plan to launch his Tiger-Woods-like career as a place-kicker, he decides to begin taking Karate lessons. There he meets Rosemary, a girl he's known since kindergarten. But after being partnered with her for sparring, he suddenly notices her as a girl, not another face. To Gabe's elation, they begin spending time together and he is completely enamored with not only her, but her life. She lives with her loving upper-class parents on the edge of Central Park. This is in contrast to his life, where he lives with his soon-to-be-divorcing parents, who seem to have declared an awkward truce while waiting for their divorce to be finalized.
As their relationship progresses, Gabe begins to question what is happening to him and why is he falling in love with Rosemary. When things seem to be going perfect, Gabe's world is suddenly turned upside down. He discovers that Rosemary is leaving for camp in a few days and won't be back till the end of the summer. And since she has moved up a belt in their karate class, she is given a new partner, a handsome, more athletic boy, whom Gabe likens to Ashton Kutcher.
With their remaining time running out, Gabe tries to move closer to Rosemary. But in frustration over her leaving, he only drives her away. Being crushed with what love really is, he receives advice from his father that the parents' marriage fell apart because of things that were left unsaid. Realizing that he is out of time, Gabe goes off to find Rosemary to declare his love.
[edit] Trivia
- The film was edited on Final Cut Pro.
- Charlie Ray grew so fast that in several scenes, Josh Hutcherson had to stand on a crate to keep their height difference constant.
- This is Charlie Ray's first film. She had never even auditioned for a film before.
- The kindergarten-aged Rosemary, seen in a flashback, was played by the director's daughter.
- In the Telesco's apartment, there is an actual picture of Charlie Ray on the wall.
- AnnaSophia Robb auditioned for the role of Rosemary[citation needed], which is coincidental considering that she ends up sharing the main role with Hutcherson in the 2007 movie remake of Bridge to Terabithia.
