A friend who had seen 'The Little Things' on HBO Max recommended it to me. This is a Warner Brother's film so it's being simultaneously released on HBO's platform and in theaters. I don't have Max so I opted to see it theatrically, I like to try and get out on occasion as like many these day's I'm largely living as a shut in, and several chains are currently operating in the Salt Lake area and they ain't crowded.
Recommendation and outing however are secondary reasons for going to see this particular film, I was intrigued when I learned that it is set in the 90's. While of course many films were made in the 1990's it's not an era subsequently much depicted as period piece. It further turns out that 'The Little Things' did not begin as a period piece, the first draft of the screenplay was completed by John Lee Hancock ('The Blind Side', 'Saving Mr. Banks') in 1993.
Eventually Hancock himself, now a director, opted to personally bring his vision to screen, though over the nearly thirty years it took to get this film made the project was attached to various named directors to helm, including Clint Eastwood, Danny DeVito and Warren Beatty. Steven Spielberg turned down the film on the grounds that it was too dark. This intrigued me because as I sat watching it in the theater I kept thinking how refreshingly straight forward this serial killer film seemed. Outside of the shots of nude bodies it felt like a movie of the week that could have aired on CBS some Sunday night thirty years ago. Though I do mean that in a good way what truly makes this film are 'the little things'.
Denzel Washington seems to always bring it even in crap, and this movie ain't crap, at least not in my estimation, though many film critics seem to disagree. He plays a burnt out former LA County homicide detective who is back in the city after five years running an errand for the small force up north for which he now works. As he was once considered great at his job, a young detective played by Rami Malek (nicely cast against type) brings him in to consult on a series of murders of young women. This case bares some similarity to the one Washington burnt himself out on, and though they butt heads at first Denzel and Rami soon become equally obsessed with the murders, and their prime suspect, a creepy appliance repair man played by Jared Leto.
This police producorial mystery becomes increasingly a cat and mouse game, and is deceptively well constructed. The 90's setting helps set it apart some, and does away with the prevalence of cell phones and computers that can blunt some the tension and difficulties of contemporary crime stories. 'The Little Things' doesn't break new ground or reinvent the wheel, but it does harken back to an earlier ethos of crime drama and makes a fairly standard mystery story feel fresh again. ***
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