Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 2001


Little Secrets (2001 film)

Buy Little Secrets (2001 film) now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




'Little Secrets' is a 2001 American comedy-drama family film directed by Blair Treu and written by Jessica Barondes. It was produced by TriStar Pictures and stars Evan Rachel Wood, Michael Angarano, and David Gallagher. The film follows Emily (played by Wood), a 14-year-old aspiring violinist who runs a secret-keeping booth in her neighborhood, offering the other children advice when they confess their secrets to her. Complicating Emily's life are her soon-to-be-born sibling and the two teenage brothers who move in next door. Emily soon finds herself unraveling under the weight of all the secrets, including one of her own.

The film is the second collaboration between Treu and Barondes, having previously teamed up for Disney Channel's 'Wish Upon a Star' (1996). A proponent of family-oriented media, Treu wanted to make a grounded and character-driven film with a positive message, something he felt contemporary Hollywood was lacking. To prepare for what she considered her first ever family-friendly role, Wood spent two months learning how to mimic playing the violin. 'Little Secrets' was shot on location in Salt Lake City in the summer of 2001, with local child actors rounding out the supporting roles. Utah-based composer Sam Cardon provided the score, and a soundtrack was included as a bonus disc in the film's DVD release.

'Little Secrets' premiered at the Heartland Film Festival on October 21, 2001, under its original title 'Secret Keeper'. It was also screened at the Salt Lake Children's Film Festival, before being released theatrically by the independent film company Samuel Goldwyn Films on August 23, 2002, to mixed reviews. Wood's performance was widely praised, but while some critics found the film wholesome and sweet, others derided it as superficial and bland. Commercially, the film grossed $750,582 at the box office. It was released on home video the following year.

Plot



Emily, a 14-year-old aspiring concert violinist, spends her summer practicing for an important audition to get into the local youth symphony orchestra in Salt Lake City. Due to Emily's knack for keeping secrets, she also runs a secret-keeping booth, charging the neighborhood children fifty cents for advice as they divulge their personal secrets to her. Emily herself is harboring a secret from her friends: that she is adopted. At home, Emily's parents are expecting a baby, having been unable to conceive a child of their own until now. Her parents' excitement over the baby leaves Emily feeling jealous.

Meanwhile, 12-year-old Philip and his family move in next door to Emily. While helping unpack, Philip accidentally breaks one of his father's valuable chess pieces and is caught by Emily as he attempts to hide it in the garden. Emily and Philip get off to a rocky start when she charges him fifty cents to keep this incident a secret from his parents, but Philip begins to take an interest in her after watching her play the violin. Emily invites Philip over for afternoon tea and they bond over having a shared secret after they accidentally break two expensive china teacups. As Philip's crush grows, he begins taking piano lessons in an attempt to impress her.

David, Philip's 15-year-old brother, returns home early from tennis camp, having been expelled when he and other campers were involved in a car accident after having a few beers. Philip does not think it is a big deal as David was not the driver and no one was legally drunk, but the woman in the other car was injured. Philip reveals David's secret to Emily in exchange for learning the meaning behind her secret greeting with her best friends. He is confused when Emily reacts angrily to what David did. Emily and David meet and are immediately attracted to each other, causing a jealous Philip to steal Emily's clients for his own secret-keeping booth. David tries to get closer to Emily, but she keeps her distance due to her knowledge of his secret. At the same time, the advice Emily gave to the neighborhood children starts to blow up in her face. She begins to unravel under the pressure of keeping all these secrets and it affects her violin playing.

At her mother's baby shower, David tries once again to talk to Emily and she reveals that she knows his secret. David confronts Philip, and an angry Philip reveals to Emily's best friends that she broke their secret greeting pact. After a heart-to-heart with her violin teacher Pauline, Emily resolves to stop keeping secrets. She goes to retrieve her violin that she left on the roof, but loses her balance and falls, necessitating a trip to the hospital and causing her to miss her audition. Feeling guilty, the brothers go to the audition on her behalf and manage to get Emily a place in the youth orchestra by showing the panelists a tape of her playing the violin. While she is in the hospital, her mother also gives birth to her new sister whom Emily names Grace. Emily tells her friends that she is adopted and that her birth parents were killed by a drunk driver when she was an infant. David finally understands why Emily was so upset at him and promises never to do something like that again. After she is released from the hospital, Emily and Philip reaffirm their friendship and he helps her close her secret-keeping booth for good. Philip gives Emily and David his blessing, and Emily and David share a kiss.

Cast and characters



* Evan Rachel Wood as Emily Lindstrom. Treu said of the character, "She likes to be in control. She has her goals, she has her business, and I think she really enjoys being involved in the lives of her younger neighbors." Wood likened Emily's booth to Lucy Van Pelt's psychiatric booth in the 'Peanuts' comic strip.

* Michael Angarano as Philip Lenox. Philip is described as "a highly intelligent, challenging youngster."

* David Gallagher as David Lenox, Philip's "hunky" older brother

* Vivica A. Fox as Pauline, Emily's violin teacher and mentor

* Jan Broberg Felt as Caroline Lindstrom, Emily's adoptive mother

* Rick Macy as Eddie Lindstrom, Emily's adoptive father

* Paul Kiernan as Don Lenox, Philip and David's father

* Tayva Patch as Elaine Lenox, Philip and David's mother

* Danielle Chuchran as Lea, a neighborhood child and one of Emily's clients

* Caitlin EJ Meyer as Isabelle, a neighborhood child and one of Emily's clients

* Micah Schow as Gregory, a neighborhood child and one of Emily's clients

* Landon Kunzelman as Mikey, a neighborhood child and one of Emily's clients

* RuDee Lipscomb as Laurel, Emily's best friend

* Haley McCormick as Jenny, Emily's best friend and Isabelle's older sister

* Joey Miyashima as Dr. Mezzie, Caroline's doctor

Production



Development

'Little Secrets' was directed by Blair Treu and written by Jessica Barondes. It was Treu and Barondes' second collaboration, having previously made 'Wish Upon a Star' (1996) together for the Disney Channel. The film was produced by Sony's TriStar Pictures and distributed by the independent film company Samuel Goldwyn Films; Don Schain, Treu and Barondes served as the producers. Both Treu and Barondes noted that the production studio did not meddle in their creative process.

As a filmmaker, Treu specialized in uplifting family entertainment that is appropriate for children but still substantive. He believed that films like 'Little Secrets' filled a void by appealing to a segment of the population that he felt contemporary Hollywood had lost touch with. He added, "More than promoting this movie, I'm trying to promote this kind of movie." Barondes considered the themes in the film to be "universal," saying, "I think the things I write about are pretty timeless. They could have been made in the '70s, '80s, and here we are in the 2000s, and hopefully it will work and will hang around."

Treu wanted the plot to be grounded and character-driven, and at the crux of the story is Emily grappling with the emotional weight and consequences of keeping so many secrets. Another subplot is the love triangle between Emily and the two brothers, Philip and David. Treu highlighted the friendship between Emily and Philip as his favorite storyline to develop. While he acknowledged that many of the film's young audiences were rooting for Philip to get the girl at the end, Treu felt it was more realistic that Emily would choose the older David.

Casting

was chosen by Treu to play Philip from the start.|alt=A photograph of Michael Angarano

In April 2001, 'The Hollywood Reporter' reported that Wood was to star in the film. Treu had auditioned a few actresses before landing on her for the role of Emily. The actress was keen to join the production and work with a cast that was mostly children, noting that this was the first family-friendly project she had ever done. Wood appears in almost every scene in the film and Treu was impressed by her ability "to take everything in stride," recalling how she could shoot an emotional scene, take a break to attend school, then return to the set and pick up right where she left off in the scene.

Because she did not know how to play the violin, Wood spent two months prior to filming learning how to mime playing the instrument along to the music. Even though the actual sound she produced did not matter, with Wood describing her violin playing on set as sounding like "fingernails on a chalkboard," she was surprised by how difficult it was to make her miming look realistic. Treu explained Wood's preparation process:

Auditions were not held for the role of Philip because Treu knew he wanted Angarano for the part from the start. Gallagher was cast as David with Treu noting that despite his young age, Gallagher had been acting for such a long time that he probably had the most on-set experience of the cast. According to Treu, the actor personified the "red-blooded all-American young man" and had a natural charisma that drew girls in.

Filming

'Little Secrets' was shot on a small budget in the summer of 2001. Like the majority of Treu's previous productions, filming took place entirely on location in Salt Lake City, Utah, with specific locales including Downtown Salt Lake City and the area around Cottonwood Mall. Local child actors were cast in many of the supporting roles. For the neighborhood scenes in the film, Treu returned to the same location that he had previously shot 'Wish Upon a Star' in. Treu favored this particular neighborhood due to its unique setting, consisting of newly-built houses surrounded by old-growth trees, that he felt gave it a "magical quality." Moreover, the houses were relatively big and had high ceilings, making them ideal for filming.

Time was of the essence for the filmmakers as the young cast were attending school and could only shoot for a few hours each day. Treu praised the director of photography Brian Sullivan for rising to the challenge and setting up the shots very quickly. Treu credits Sullivan for the film's "crisp" and "colorful" visual quality, which he felt made the film look more expensive than it really was. Despite the tight schedule, Treu wanted to maintain a relaxed working environment; actress Vivica A. Fox recalled the mood on set as being very positive and wholesome, while Wood described the experience as "very laid back."

Music

The film was scored by Utah-based composer Sam Cardon. In a highly unusual move that Treu said was in part a tribute to the composer, an official soundtrack of Cardon's score was released as a bonus disc in the film's DVD set.

Release



Originally titled 'Secret Keeper', the film premiered on October 21, 2001, at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana. According to the festival's president Jeff Sparks, it set a Heartland record for ticket sales and was the "most popular movie" they had ever screened." The film, now retitled 'Little Secrets', had its first screening in Utah on August 19, 2002, when it headlined the Salt Lake Children's Film Festival.

It had a limited theatrical release in the United States on August 23, 2002, opening in 366 theaters. In its debut weekend, it ranked 30th at the box office, grossing $191,747 with a per-screen average of $523. The film dropped out of the top-100 list in its third weekend until its last screening in 12 theaters in its fifth weekend, grossing $2,364 and ranking 127th. Overall, 'Little Secrets' closed out a disappointing theatrical run grossing $405,792 domestically and $344,790 in other territories, for a worldwide total of $750,582.

It was released on VHS and DVD by Columbia-TriStar Home Entertainment on February 4, 2003, with bonus features including outtakes, a commentary track by Treu and Barondes, a "making-of" featurette, and the film's soundtrack on a separate CD. Aaron Beierle gave the DVD his recommendation in his review for DVD Talk, finding the video and audio quality to be "fairly good" and enjoying the "solid" extras.

Reception



Critical reception

The film has an approval rating of 60% based on 48 professional reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's consensus reads, "'Little Secrets' is wholesome entertainment for the kids, but also rather bland." Metacritic gave the film a score of 52 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."

In his review for 'The New York Times', Dave Kehr wrote that Wood has a screen presence in the film that belies her young age. Overall, he concluded that "'Little Secrets' is a sunny, pleasant, squeaky-clean family film in which nothing surprising happens, and that is the point." 'The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck found that the storylines play out in such a lazy and uninspiring manner, that Wood's performance was the only noteworthy highlight in an otherwise boring film. Similarly, 'Variety's Scott Foundas commended Wood for "bringing as much charm and subtlety to the part as the one-dimensional script and clunky direction will allow."

Foundas was critical of the film's characterization of its young protagonists, who in his opinion must have been written by adults who have forgotten how actual children behave. Scheck was equally unimpressed with the portrayal of the adult characters save for the "always lively" Fox as Pauline. In contrast, Brandon Griggs of 'The Salt Lake Tribune' felt the child characters were handled authentically and respectfully, while Crosswalk.com's Holly McClure appreciated the film's thoughtful depiction of adults. Overall, McClure gave 'Little Secrets' a glowing review with particular praise for its relatable themes and the "clever way" those themes were handled.

Kevin Thomas of the 'Los Angeles Times' lamented the superficial, picture-perfect world the story was set in, a trend he felt was all-too-common in the family genre. Still, he thought that underneath its saccharine surface, the film's moralabout the wisdom of keeping potentially harmful secretswas genuinely thought-provoking and skilfully handled by Treu and Barondes. Thomas also praised all three of the film's teenage leads, although he noted that Wood's performance was a little too affected at times. David Sterritt of 'The Christian Science Monitor' concurred with Thomas that the characters and settings were unrealistically "trim and tidy," giving the film a sitcom-like quality. Nonetheless, both Thomas and Sterritt recommended the film as satisfying entertainment for family audiences.

Accolades



References




Buy Little Secrets (2001 film) now from Amazon

<-- Return to movies from 2001



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1110503793.