Plot edit
Best friends Lily and Alison reside in a destitute California town close to the Salton Sea. Lily, a suicidal and rebellious girl living with her single mother Margaret, and Alison, a careful and cautious girl living with her alcoholic father, are total opposites. While Lily wants to leave her difficult home life as soon as possible, Alison finds comfort under her uncle Hogan’s cars and horses. Together, the two girls travel to their remote town where they meet Los Angeles skateboarding boys Louis, David, and Jesse, with whom Lily quickly falls in love. Alison gets upset when Jesse writes his number on Lily’s arm and gives her a kiss before the boys depart.
Reluctantly, Alison grants Lily’s request to use Hogan’s truck so they can meet up with Jesse and his friends in Los Angeles. They make a stop at a convenience store, where Lily helps Alison when she tries to return the items Lily stole for them and gets caught. Alison takes the two to the boys’ location after they quickly locate the three boys. Lily runs into a hustler while out on the town, and she demands an apology. Alison is shocked as the five flee after David strikes the man over the head with a skateboard when he tries to reason with her. The boys’ dilapidated, abandoned apartment, where other homeless teenagers live, is where the group settles. Lily ignores Alison’s warnings that Jesse might be more dangerous than they realize. After sharing a private moment with Louis, Alison swiftly rejects him when he begins to touch her.
When Jesse and Lily break into an abandoned house in the morning, Jesse tells Lily that it was once his home before his family moved to Arizona, but he chose to move back to L A. on his own. In the meantime, Alison apologizes to her uncle Hogan over the phone for stealing the truck. Alison assures Hogan that she will bring Lily back as he begs her to return home. When they are kissing back at the house, Jesse observes Lily’s scars from self-harm. He shows Lily his scar on his chest to cheer her up and is attracted by her suicidal attitude. After finding a dating website, David persuades a wary Jesse to use Lily as a ruse to con and steal from elderly men. Lily goes along with it, meets an elderly man, and entices him to come to their place where the boys, accompanied by a reluctant Alison, threaten the man with a gun to get money before releasing him.
After Alison and Lily exchange heated words, Alison is ejected from the group by David after they argue. Lily declines Alison’s invitation to go, stating that she will be staying with Jesse. The two argue and their friendship is damaged. Lily meets with John, a middle-aged man, and continues to assist with the scam. However, John is a violent psychopath and overpowers the boys. He leaves a terrified Lily behind as he knocks out David and Louis and chases after Jesse. As John shoves a sobbing Lily onto the mattress to begin raping her, he gets shot in the back. It is revealed that Alison is the shooter; she made the decision to return one last time for Lily. The girls reconcile and Lily agrees to come home. On their way back, Alison pulls over near the beach. Before eventually leaving for home, they both go out and relish their final moments in Los Angeles.
Development edit
Around 2009, James started work on Little Birds, largely drawing inspiration from his own experiences. [4] Originally, James was working on an autobiographical project about how he and his best friend packed up and moved to Boston to join a gang. [2] Nick Cassavetes was attached to direct that movie, and Justin Timberlake was attached to play James. James, however, was concerned that the movie would ultimately “glamorize the violent lifestyle” he had just left behind, so he wrote Little Birds in its place, replacing his best friend and himself with two fifteen-year-old girls. [2] After witnessing a teenage girl riding a bike in the Salton Sea, he decided to concentrate on the characters “Lily” and “Alison.” James remarked, “You could just tell that she was on fire and she was never going to get out of there,” alluding to his own childhood feelings of being imprisoned in his own small town. [5].
After Juno Temple signed on for the movie, James gave her the option of playing Alison or Lily. She explained her decision to play Lily by saying she “wanted to set her free” and that she “connected with the character more.” [2] During their two years of collaboration on the movie, Temple and James grew close. They still work together[6], and in interviews, they call one another “family” and “best friends” [7]. Little Birds is a love song to the strong women in James’ life, including Temple, he has stated. [6].
Just one week before filming began, Kay Panabaker joined the cast of the movie following hundreds of actress auditions. [9] During the shoot, she and Temple grew close by sleeping over in each other’s hotel rooms and “watching bad movies and eating junk food together.” “[9].
Little Birds was supported by producer Jamie Patricof, who produced the movie through Sundance Institute Labs. [10].
James completed the movie just in time for its 2011 Sundance Film Festival premiere, but not before he was required to appear in court for his activities as a member of Friends Stand United. [11][10].
Cast edit
- “Tinted Soft Green” – Elgin James & The Suicide Gang
- “Tender Branch” – Tift Merritt
- “Too Far” – Linee
- “This Town” – Linee
- “My Death Will Be Early” – Elgin James
- “Another Man Don Gone” – Odetta & Larry
- “September Gurls” – Big Star
- “Anenome” – The Brian Jonestown Massacre
- “Lily & Jesses Theme” – Chad Gilbert
- “Boys Theme” – Elgin James & The Suicide Gang
- “Alisons Theme (feat. Leslie Stevens)” – Elgin James & The Suicide Gang.
- “Little Birds” – Tift Merritt
FAQ
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