Little Birds (2012)
Average Rating: 5.3/10
Reviews Counted: 19
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 9
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 5.1/10
Critic Reviews: 12
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 6
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 1,915
My Rating
Movie Info
Fifteen-year-old Lily and her best friend, Alison, live on the shores of the Salton Sea. Sprinting toward adulthood, Lily wants to escape her depressing hometown. But Alison is content with her life; she enjoys being sheltered from the uncertainty of growing up. When the girls meet three street kids, Lily convinces Alison to follow the boys to Los Angeles. Thrust into a world of excitement and danger, the girls must decide how far they are willing to go to get what they want. -- (C) Official
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Cast
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Juno Temple
Lily Hobart -
Kay Panabaker
Alison Hoffman -
Leslie Mann
Margaret Hobart -
Kate Bosworth
Bonnie Muller -
Kyle Gallner
Jesse McNamara -
Chris Coy
David Riley -
Neal McDonough
Hogan -
Carlos Pena
Louis Estes -
JR Bourne
John Gretton
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Little Birds Trailer & Photos
All Critics (19) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (10) | Rotten (9)
Though the plotting is problematic and at times as lost as the kids, there are bursts of brilliance and moments of aching vulnerability in "Little Birds" that make you wonder what the filmmaker might do next.
The dreamy shots of a poisoned sea in "Little Birds" show an imagination sorely missing from its drab plot and characters.
Despair may be an emotion of emptiness, of the absence of hope, but that doesn't mean a movie about someone spiraling down into that emotion has to feel so empty as well.
There's a moralistic structure there, but it leaves Lily in a place that's scarcely more reassuring than the one she first abandoned. That's what makes Little Birds not just a lesson but, in its rambling way, an organic journey.
Like its teenage heroine, "Little Birds" is stubbornly convinced of its own unique profundity. So it's a good thing this moodily self-absorbed drama redeems itself with just enough endearing innocence.
Top CriticIt is hard not to be reminded of other movies - like Larry Clark's "Kids," Nick Cassavetes's "Alpha Dog," Andrea Arnold's "Fish Tank" - that explore similar territory with greater risk and originality.
Quirky tale of female empowerment about coming of age on L.A.'s mean streets.
Fragile tale of how a lifelong friendship forged between two innocent girls is tested when they venture into a volatile, violent world.
Teen girls seek respite from bleak life in mature drama.
Coming-of-age, semi-autobiographical drama has flashes of adventure and danger, but too much 'So what?'.
Temple, in particular, is headed for stardom.
Juno Temple's Lily is a damaged creature trying to fly in Little Birds, a film of precious, romanticized misery and squalor.
Juno Temple is particularly appealing as a 15 year old who's fragile, but bored enough to do almost anything bad.
Audience Reviews for Little Birds
Super Reviewer
Decent good movie! Little Birds is a solid and stable genre-exercise but nothing more. It undermines its true potential, and too often allows its characters to stew in just average material. I would've liked to see more scenes involving the teens attempting to make conversation with their parents and vice-versa. Shouting matches can get tedious, especially when you've seen a handful of films centered on rebellion. It's also interesting to note that this makes young Juno Temple three for three in the game of "how many poor, listless trailer park characters can I play in films?" with the two home-runs Dirty Girl and Killer Joe already under her belt. I love Temple as an actress and feel she has attitude and charm that could stretch a mile wide, but perhaps in order to test her abilities more she should move up the social class food chain to either comfortably poor or low middle class. Even the most skilled and reliable typecast actors need a breath of fresh air.
Lily and Alison face a life-changing event after they leave their Salton Sea home and follow the boys they meet back to Los Angeles.
Super Reviewer
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- Alison Hoffman: You only get a little time between a cut and knowing how deep it is. If it's only going to be nicked or disfigured forever, all you can do is try to stretch out that moment for as long as you possibly can cause once you know, there ain't no coming back.
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- Lily Hobart: I like your eyes
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- Lily Hobart: I figured it out... we can take Hogan's truck to LA!
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- Margaret Hobart: You need to talk to someone kido.
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Juno Temple is fastly becoming a favorite of mine. She is fearless in the roles she takes. I admire that in an actress/actor. It was my first time (I think) seeing Kay Panabaker in a movie. I think she's great. Her and Temple really worked well together. Everyone else does a good job in this as well. I would have liked if there was a little bit more story to these young ladies past. All in all a good indie flick."