Little Manhattan (film)

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Little Manhattan
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 115 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 eleven-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.

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[edit] Synopsis

While Gabe 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. He takes the course because he is afraid that a kid in his school will beat him up. There he meets Rosemary Telesco, 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 later 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 he is 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 and more athletic boy namede Tim Staples, 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. He interrupts her in the marriage function that she is attending and proposes his love. She declares that she doesn't think that she is mature enough to be ready for love but is really happy that he came. She asks for a dance and Gabe agrees. As they dance Gabe declares to himself that they were on different paths and like two ships that passed in sheep meadow.

He comes back home to find his parents laughing over their honeymoon experiences. He is pleased and surprised at the same time when his father says that he "cleared some old stuff". They happily go for a dinner outside as a typical happy family.

[edit] Released

[edit] Trivia

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  • 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.

[edit] External links