The true meaning behind “The Little Things” that get you caught
Sweet melancholy from 2021, yum. Need to know what the film you’ve just watched is about? I share my view and give you an explanation.
The film immediately falls on my “golden shelf” with a rating of 10/10 and I want to revise it a couple of times — to see more details, meanings and dimensions, to have fun. As often happens — films shot and written by the same person, with a high level of work, will definitely not fail. Here is my assessment and interpretation of this “auteur cinema”.
Visuals & Aesthetics
There is a really beautiful movie here. Melancholic, vivid picture, delights every second.
The shots are excellent. There are no boring scenes, no unnecessary and technical — it keeps us completely immersed in what is happening on the screen. The lighting is superbly staged — in the film, night and day scenes are strictly distinguished, the post-processing is painted at the highest level: it turns out to be saturated, contrasting. The pace of speech and movement of the characters deserves a special mention: the whole film is like a melody with a fixed tempo. Nobody runs, nobody dulls. Nothing explodes, no action rushes to the distillation with drama. Just life on the screen.
The scene of the car chase in The Little Things will generally be remembered to me as a separate phenomenon — the culmination of my praise for this picture.
This film will infuriate those who do not believe that the filmmaker is talking to the viewer and conveying specific meanings. This film shows us a specific story to read, the authors want us to read it. Therefore, it develops smoothly, unhurriedly.
Sound
I had to keep my finger on the Shazam button! Everything that we hear does not so much define the picture as * complements *, as if it falls into the * drawn, written * * channel *. We are honored to hear this degree of harmony between video and audio in the cinema once every 5–6 years, if not less often. The selected song titles and lyrics literally describe what is happening on the screen. Especially memorable is the scene where the character is suddenly distracted from an important conversation, saying “turn it up, I love the music of the 50s.” At this moment, we are not looking at a detective story, but an excellent composition, at the Mona Lisa.
Together with the words of the song playing on the radio, this is the main moment of the disclosure of the secondary character, we instantly get to know her much closer than it would be with any number of scenes, situations, as they do in TV shows (and where it often comes out awkwardly and boring). This cinema speaks to us with all available expressive means — in the language of feelings. Despite the fact that we are shown a dark story, it is mesmerizing and beautiful.
Cast
Charismatic, memorable actors are given the most “appropriate” roles. There were fears about what the role of Rami Malek will turn out to be — suddenly he will play a character that “does not correspond to him” — more mature, more serious, more experienced. Everything turned out to be extremely harmonious. Probably due to the fact that Rami himself feels very well how he looks against the background of his colleague (Denzel Washington). Which, moreover, has a more “solid” role.
In the foreground, we get a live crew of two police officers investigating one of the most serious criminal cases in the city, between whom a special relationship will immediately develop. They will not overplay themselves, they will not waste time on conflicts or friendship, this film is about deeper … matters that would waste time on human relations. They live real lives right before our eyes — investigating the case, and quickly realize that their tasks agree on one thing, in something deeper. These are their real lives, these are the lives of seekers who have reached a dead end.
With such a high first plan, everything else just plays along and lays down together in the puzzle.
Story
None of the characters look dead, an unnecessary gun on the wall that doesn’t fire.
The 6/10 rating on IMDb is probably related to the storyline. The spectator expects a detective, expects a denouement, predictability. Dryness is expected, but this story is not even clay or water. It seems to be a psychological film about deep questions. The mass audience is not ready to face the denouement that will be shown.
I am sorry that this is not a mass cinema. It is difficult to imagine a viewer younger who will appreciate the plot. As well as the viewer older who wants to. Due to the complexity and misunderstanding of the central theme, I suppose there is an average mark.
What is this plot about
I will throw in some firewood for those who have watched the film, but did not understand it “to the end.” However, to the end, and I do not understand anything, since this is not the goal. But I’ll leave my interpretation here. Of course, art is created for viewers’ interpretation, and the authors of The Little Things showed us a completely understandable story that we just need to be able to read.
First, it is a “light” movie. It talks about complex things in simple language. Another thing is that things are atypical. Therefore, to look at the really visible facts and ask the questions that history has taught its heroes will be enough for “closure”.
Secondly, this is a movie in quotes. References to the film “Seven” (1995) do not recede for most of the screen time, but serve only to immerse us in a moral and value context.. Something other than just “killing is bad”, typically expected from a police officer. I just have to collect a complete list of movie quotes with timecodes, it will be an extremely interesting exercise in memory — I don’t remember something by name, something I myself only watched in quotes. Quotes, both narrative and visual.
This is not a very “original” plot, if you forgive me that. Everything that we see has already been shown in cinema, which is an American classic of the second half of the 20th century. These are the very action films that were filmed with soul, meaning and taste, which gather dust, disappearing into the past, and it seems, sometimes, as if only directors and screenwriters speak their language today. Quotes in The Little Things immerse us in a warm nostalgic state of joy that the world cinema will appreciate films of all eras, even those that are irrevocably gone. 90s, 2000s. This is a new story told by scraps of old films.
It’s amazingly cool.
The Dead Also Talk…
⚠️ WARNED: This is written only for those who watched the movie ☠️
The character of Denzel Washington during the interrogation of the suspect (Jared Leto) literally loses his temper, starting to ask the “killer” the question — “Why?” (“why?”) Why did you kill them? The scene will be the last moment when we have a glimmer of hope that someone will solve these murders. A little further — and everything will quickly roll to hell.
This is a story about a cop who accidentally killed a fanatic for whom there was no evidence. Like other characters in Rami Malek, his story is about a ** fracture **. He knew who was in his hands, but having made a mistake, he forever missed “his” scenario — victory, being left with shattered illusions that would weigh on him ** for the rest of his life. **
You can dive into Reddits that will tell you whether Leto’s character was a killer or not, but any speculation on this topic would be a grave mistake. At the moment, I do not see in the film the slightest hint that the creators had a goal to answer such a specific question. As this question was out of focus.
The focus is on another question that comes from Jim (Rami) to his colleague (Joe): why is such an experienced detective like Joe, with the best homicide resolution, working 15 years without a promotion, and the management does not have the best opinion of him? What happened there, somewhere in the past that still weighs on him?
We are faced with characters who openly reveal their motivation. Jim sees photographs of victims of crimes on Joe’s wall — says — “You need help, that this is not normal — this is sick”. But this is not his concern. Next second Rami’s character is again a seeker, the same as Joe, stating — “I also need to find him, [the killer] but for myself. We will help each other.”
We see Joe talking to the ghosts of the murder victims. He is looking for something, and unlike Jim — admits that this is for himself.
This picture is about characters who got lost in search of themselves. It’s a two-hour melancholy. “You can talk to me,” Joe said to the already dead body of a girl brought from the crime scene. He speaks to the dead because he is trying to find a reason.
The script doesn’t answer the question of whether the real perpetrator is shown in the story, but gives a bold hint of what kind of people Joe is working with — who gets into focus. We see that these are innocent people with a certain degree of fanaticism, caught (for example) in sexual abuse. That is, abnormal, but innocent. The character of Albert Sparma (Leto) is exactly the same. Both investigators and viewers have no chance of proving his involvement in the murders. We only know that these are fanatics who collect newspaper clippings and listen to police chatter on the receiver at home.
The real crime is committed by the detectives themselves. They monitor their suspect without any reason, which is prohibited. Even the car that was found in a suspicious place, it turns out, was declared by him as stolen — which the criminals do not do. Later, Jim kills Sparma with a deft blow with a shovel, and Joe completely destroys all his property, including the car, and they bury the corpse somewhere outside the city. So two * real * criminals in the story are * caught * by the viewer red-handed.
What is Rami’s “turning point”? — Now Jim will also, in a sense, talk to the ghosts of his past. And he even has a “talisman” ..
This story is about how people broke their woods, missed the only chance, and they can only talk about it with the ghosts of their past. But they never learn anything. And practically no one, probably including the viewer of the picture, wondered — what happened many years ago with Joe?
The title of the film The Little Things does not refer us to details that are overlooked in the investigation of murders, but to things in people about which we do not ask questions, but which have a defining role. In the final scene, we learn that Joe has killed one of the crime victims in the past (cited Insomnia, 2002). As with Jim, they hid it from everyone, leaving a secret that weighs them all to this day.
A separate thrill is the scene with the red barrette (probably bought by Joe), which goes to Jim. Of course it has nothing to do with the murders … but not for Jim.
But it’s all Little Things ..
What are these little things, after all?
There is possibly a play on words in the film.
It’s the little things that are important, Jimmy. It’s the little things that get you caught. — Joe
An idiom that reads like — “to catch yourself thinking ..”
We think the line is about police investigations. But the meaning of words, taking into account the idiom, could be:
All these little things are important, Jimmy. These are the little things that you will get stuck in.
So to me this film is about the mistakes of the past which will remain buried, but which will come back to you again and again.
It’s the little things that rip you apart
Many things 😎
💭
