Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Little Man Tate Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 4, 2015

I have one sister who spent much of a long teaching career testing so-called talented and gifted kids, and another sister who spent an equally long career as a psychiatric social worker helping mentally ill and developmentally disabled people. At times, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two if they were to share anecdotes about their work lives. There would, for example, be talk of standard deviations from the norm, unorthodox behaviors, and problems with socialization. It’s interesting, if perhaps just slightly unsettling, that two “extremes” can be described in such similar terms, but as Little Man Tate makes abundantly clear, no mere description is able to adequately deal with some kids whose intelligence is off the Richter scale, leaving “civilians” like the kids’ parents and even professionals like mentors and/or teachers grasping (incompetently at times) for ways to not just engage these precocious types, but to actually help them matriculate into society at large. This debut directorial effort from star Jodie Foster is (ironically) a bit too simple minded in its portrayal of a hard working, average intelligence single mother trying to come to terms with the fact that her son is an undeniable genius. The film has a somewhat sanguine approach toward its subject which just slightly undercuts some of the interstitial drama before a basically upbeat ending, but it provides Foster the chance to explore an unusual story and to draw out a really winning performance from young Adam Hann-Byrd as young Fred Tate, the titular character with an unapproachable IQ.

Fred’s own narrative voiceover helps to wryly acclimatize the viewer to what an incredibly smart little boy he is, but one of the first depictions of his intelligence finds the character at barely a toddler level arguing with his mother Dede (Jodie Foster) about what to call a plate. The kid keeps saying something like “coffer,” and Dede keeps politely correcting him, that is at least until she turns to dish over to see the brand name emblazoned on the bottom is indeed Koffer. As Fred grows to young school age, his overweening intelligence (of course) only completely alienates him from his classmates, though Dede, a working mom with few options, doesn’t really know how to better handle the situation.

Fred’s talents run both wide and deep, and ultimately he has a potential mentor in Jane Grierson (Dianne Wiest), herself a former child prodigy who now runs a school for talented and gifted kids. Both Jane and her chief cohort Garth Emmerick (David Hyde Pierce, still billed as simply David Pierce) recognize the immense potential Fred has and manage (after a couple of interstitial vignettes) to get Dede to at least partially relinquish control so that they can help guide the little boy into a more academically and maybe even socially productive future.

While there’s an ongoing plot arc dealing with a kind of intellectual Olympics for the brainiacs at Grierson’s school, what actually drives the film is a couple of relationships that Fred forges, one with another, slightly older, student named Damon Wells (P.J. Ochlan) and, later, one with a young man named Eddie (Harry Connick, Jr.). Damon is Fred fast forwarded a couple of years—a kid with a preening intellect but zero social skills, but perhaps a bit more self awareness than he first lets on. Eddie fulfills more of an older brother slash surrogate father role for Fred, but is ultimately not the parental figure that Fred actually needs. That, of course, is Dede, and while the film sets up a potentially intense “competition” between Dede and Jane, what actually transpires is relatively tamped down and ultimately fairly civilized.

Foster, herself a child prodigy who obviously understands the subject of the film from the inside out, keeps things rather quiet if pertinently observational throughout the film. This really isn’t a film of histrionic showdowns (though there are a couple of shouting matches along the way), but instead more of a measured portrayal of an incredibly gifted little boy learning to make his way in the world, perhaps dragging along his mother for the self revelatory ride. Wiest is a bit over mannered here (even beyond what her character calls for), but the rest of the cast is fantastic, not the least of which is the rather amazing young Hann-Byrd as Fred. The diminutive actor has a sweetness that never compromises some of Fred’s more steely proclivities, and Hann-Byrd offers a riveting anchor for a film that may itself in fact be one or two standard deviations from the norm of “misunderstood genius” cinematic outings.

Little Man Tate Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Little Man Tate is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a solid, always watchable, but fairly modest looking presentation. Elements exhibit their fair share of age related issues, but while there are occasional scratches, flecks and speckling, the two biggest issues are rather noticeable fading as well as slightly unkempt looking grain structure at times. Some of Little Man Tate boasts relatively accurate and nicely saturated color (see screenshot 3), but other scenes (and strangely exterior scenes at that) can sometimes look just slightly anemic (see screenshot 4). The overall appearance is on the soft side, something that a slightly clumpy grain structure tends to exacerbate. Still, detail is at least relatively commendable in close-ups, where elements like the natty pill on Fred's green jacket resolve with admirable precision. There's fairly significant wobble during the credits, but afterward things settle down and there are no major problems with image instability. As is Olive's stock in trade, there have been no restorative efforts made here but similarly no signs of over aggressive digital tweaking.

Little Man Tate Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Little Man Tate's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track provides capable if unshowy support for the film's long dialogue sequences, as well as some musical interludes and even ambient environmental effects in both urban and rural areas. Fidelity is fine, and there are no issues with pops, cracks or dropouts.

Little Man Tate Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on this Blu-ray disc.

Little Man Tate Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kind of like a willful child prodigy, Little Man Tate never quite goes where it should, or at least not in an expected way, and that's actually one of the film's central pleasures. If ultimately the denouement provides a too sanguine wrap up of Fred's emotional problems, the film at least has the courage to portray really smart people figuring out how to interact with "mere mortals." Never totally as emotionally compelling as it might have been due to a kind of surface gloss, Little Man Tate is nonetheless highly enjoyable and offers a sterling performance by Adam Hann-Byrd. Video is watchable if uninspiring, and audio is fine on this release. Recommended.