Little Man Tate (1991)

Synopsis:

Seven-year-old Fred Tate (Hann-Byrd) does Sistine Chapel-like chalk drawings in the playground, plays piano backwards, writes poetry and solves insanely difficult maths problems in seconds.

His mother, Dede (Foster), is a gum-chewing, tough-talking cocktail waitress, who is reluctant to let Fred enrol in a school for gifted children, run by Dr Jane Grierson (Wiest). When Dede relents to let Fred go to the Odyssey of the Mind competition with Jane, an emotional tug-of-war begins between the two women.

The performances are great, especially Hann-Byrd, who's believable as a sensitive prodigy without ever playing the cute card. Jodie Foster's directorial debut is a quietly amusing, thoughtful, jazz-soundtracked affair - enjoyable if not especially memorable

David's role:

Jodie Foster cast him as Garth Emmerick (or Emmerich?), Jane's assistant, having remembered David from a play he did in Yale, which she also attended.

It's quite a decent supporting role; he's not just there to look pretty, but to humanise Jane through his interactions with her. Garth's not quite a genius himself, is sort of bumbling and shy, and makes the genius school seem a little more fallible.

What the critics said:

"An actress since she was three, Foster knows the agony and exhilaration of being considered special. When the film follows Fred in his odyssey of the mind, Little Man Tate is passionately involving, and Foster's direction is as sharply intuitive as her acting."

- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"Tackling a difficult project, Foster draws good performances from her cast, but could have done with a better script."

- Geoff Andrew, Time Out

"Those who flock to Foster movies, or affliction-of-the-week dramas, obviously need no warnings. But there's nothing more than patness and predictability to reward them."

- Desson Howe, Washington Post

We couldn't find any reviews that singled out David, but we're happy to be corrected, of course - contact us!

Best bits:

Garth's slideshow of smart kids, including the scary ten-year-old feminist poet: "In the preface, she refers to the American housewife as - and I quote - 'A pathetic slam hound with no notion of self worth whatsoever.'"

Garth's troubled reaction to Jane's meatloaf: "Looks ... good." And then: "Maybe you're turning over a new loaf", followed by visible punner's remorse.

The tango with Jodie Foster in the last scene. It's not quite 'Moon Dance', but it is kinda funny.

Best lines:

[on Fred] "I can't explain it Jane, I mean ... it's not so much what he knows, but what he understands."

GARTH: Hey Damon, how about a game of magic digit?
DAMON: [giving him the finger] Check out this magic digit, Garth.

DVD extras:

It seems the R1 version of Little Man Tate apparently has a very frank, enjoyable commentary by Jodie Foster about her first experience as director. Sadly, our R2 edition only has a trailer. A Davidless trailer. Boo.