Little Birds (2011)

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.

Director:

Elgin James

Writer:

Elgin James

Stars:

Juno Temple, Kay Panabaker, Kate Bosworth

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Juno Temple	...	Lily Hobart
Kay Panabaker	...	Alison Hoffman
Kate Bosworth	...	Bonnie Muller
Neal McDonough	...	Hogan
David Warshofsky	...	Joseph Hoffman
Leslie Mann	...	Margaret Hobart
Bob Larkin	...	Mr. Kovacs
Kathleen Gati	...	Sally Heron
Scotty Noyd Jr.	...	Ray Cawley
Kyle Gallner	...	Jesse MacNamara
Carlos Pena	...	Louis Estes
Chris Coy	...	David Riley
Lauren Pennington	...	Shawna Cawley (as Lauren Whitney Pennington)
Lydia Blanco	...	Female Cashier
Marc Rose	...	Man

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

salton sea | title based on song | runaway | attempted rape | friendship | 

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Taglines:

How far would you go?

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive language, some violence including a sexual assault, sexuality/nudity, drug and alcohol use - all involving teens

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 January 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Goodnight Moon

Filming Locations:

Salton Sea, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$4,574 (USA) (31 August 2012)

Gross:

$16,590 (USA) (14 September 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Polsky Films, Hunting Lane Films, Sundial Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

[first lines]
Alison: [narrating] My best friend Lily thought she was drowning. Drowning in the Salton Sea. Even though the water was too polluted to set foot in, and left anything in their town either dying, or dead.
Margaret Hobart: Lily? Are you okay? Hello...
Alison: Lily was determined to never let it get her.
[drops down into the bath water and starts screaming]

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Soundtracks

"Too Far"
Written and Performed by Linée
Published by Linée T Perroncel (ASCAP)
Courtesy of Stick Girl Records

User Reviews

The best of it--Juno Temple at least--holds up the whole, which is always interesting and real

Little Birds (2011)

A harrowing movie, a slice of very believable and scary life for two fifteen year olds looking to escape their awkward or dysfunctional families. What they get into, moving from the Salton Sea to L.A. in a stolen truck, is a nightmare for any parent. Yet for the girls there is a mixture of adventure and discomfort.

All of this depends a lot on a great ensemble cast, which is pretty much here. The two girls are terrific--I had just seen Juno Temple in another excellent indie and sought this out. The boys they run into and hook up with are a little wild at first (and then more wild later) and weave into the story with surprising ease.

This is a low budget movie but it makes the most of a series of scenes inside and out that keep it from feeling constrained. The Salton Sea parts are both beautiful an so impoverished they are sad. When the edge of L.A. comes in it's rougher and yet filled with energy. The girls are divided on how the city works on them. Temple's character is exudes confidence, and sometimes has it, too, and so she gets in deeper. The other girl, played by Kay Panabaker, is more morally solid and yet more scared, and she plays a perfect counterbalance to her friend.

Writer and director Elgin James is just starting out here (that's part of what Indie films are all about) and the movie might not soar or show particular originality, but it does hold up pretty well in normal dramatic terms. The sets are very real--gritty and rough, for sure--and the acting matches. It's quite well shot, too, if nothing special is going on--give the editors some of the credit for keeping it fluid.

You wonder by the end what the larger point might be, beyond a very distracting entertainment. There might be a little (a little) sense of "there's no place like home" at work. And there's a kind of buddy movie at work--the two girls being the pals on the road. Mostly it's about how tough some teens have it, and how they want to find ways to survive that surprise their parents (usually singular, parent). It's also a tale of how kids want a lot from everyone and everything--life seems so fertile and large--and how they know so little about how to get it.

So, with vulnerability on their sleeves, these girls are a little bit of all of us. No, we aren't all so fully stupid or careless, but maybe in small ways we are all the same.