Customer Reviews

Little Secrets (with Limited Edition CD premium)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Director/Producer Blair Treu and Writer Jessica Barondes have accomplished something very unique with their recent release Little Secrets. This movie, my vote for sleeper of the year, is hard to find but worth the search. Despite its low budget Little Secrets sports an enjoyable adult cast including 2 of my favorites: Tayva Patch and Rick Macy. But the real treat is the young cast. Three leading actors and about 10 supporting actors round out this youthful cast and make this movie a true delight. Their characters are entirely believable and entertaining. Evan Rachel Wood and Michael Angarano give some of the best performances from young actors that I have ever seen in a movie. Their interactions with each other are sheer magic. David Gallagher, while acting a slightly smaller and less interesting part also does a fine job.

The basic premise of this movie centers around the main character, Emily, played by Wood. She is a young violinist anxious to join the symphony. As a side hobby she is a "secret keeper". All of the kids in her neighborhood come to her and share their secrets for 50 cents. And she never divulges a secret to anyone. When Phillip and David move into the neighborhood (Angarano and Gallagher respectively), Emily begins to experience a new set of emotions through a comical series of adventures that make her question, well, just about everything. Its all there: love, anger, confusion, the usual teen turmoil. So true was this to the adolescent mentality that I was taken back to my own youth. It was sheer enjoyment.

Now, I must warn you. If you are the type who likes loud, vulgar movies with women running around in thongs with excessive James Bond-like action replete with explosions every 30 seconds and graphic violence and music that sounds like it was recorded in the depths of Hades, this is probably not the movie for you. You might be better off with something starring Vin Diesel. However, if you like a clean, moral, sensitive film that is funny and entertaining while encouraging profound introspection, go to Little Secrets. It might be hard to find, but it is well worth the effort. This is good cinema. I hope to see more films of this type in the future. Take the kids. Take the whole family!

This movie delighted even my husband - who does not do the kid flick thing. My children all loved it - age 6-10, though only the eight and up crowd understood all of the elements. What amazed the adults is that here was a charming movie of an unusual but believable over-achiever who simply profits by keeping secrets for other children. The characters we follow through the movie are entirely entertaining, although there were a few minor lapses in acting believability in some of the younger children in supporting roles.

The movie keeps the audience interested and entertained from one element to another as the secret keeper's own secrets sensitively unfold. We considered this worth watching several times and that is not something we usually do.

The drama of the story is not quite Oscar Material, maybe a 4.5 stars, but for a family movie, Mom and Dad will be pleasantly surprised and satisfied that it was money - and time - well spent. If you are looking for a stirring and entertaining movie for children age 8-100, this one should please everyone. I strongly recommend this purchase.

If you're looking for a wonderful movie to watch with your kids, check out this one...it tells a very believable story with heart and integrity. Although it is probably geared towards females ages 7-12, it kept this adult riveted.
At the heart of the film is fourteen year old Emily (played by Rachel Wood) who is the neighborhood "secret keeper", charging a small fee so that the neighborhood children can unload their guilty consciences (and sometimes a broken item or two) with her. Unbeknownst to her young clients, however, Emily has her own secret, a huge one, which she has been hiding for years.
Meanwhile, complications ensue as Emily finds that secrets and lie have a way of growing more difficult to hide.
All of this unfolds in a very believable way. How refreshing to find a film that teaches solid values without heavy moralizing or preaching to its audience. I'm buying several copies to give as gifts because I think films like this deserve support..and, hopefully, more like this will be made. Highest recommendation for this one!

Lots of heart and soul. The best kids and young teen movie of the year. Evan Rachel and the guys are EXCELLENT!

I watched this film a couple of years back and although it looks like an adult film, its actually more of a kids film, to be content. The movie title explains what its about obviously, so I aint gonna spoil it for people who aint seen it if you know what I mean! I thought iot was alright but it cannot beat kingdom hearts!

I did'nt expest "Little Secrets" to be good but it was worth while seeing. It shows good morals for children and quite enjoyable for older people. This is one of the best family films i have seen in a while. I recommend watching this movie.

David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" starts with some great images: ideal suburbia - kids crossing the street, firemen waving as they go down the road on their truck, and a man watering his garden. Then the guy has a stroke and collapses. We are then treated to the best shot of the film: his dog playfully jumping around the squirting hose he continues to hold as a toddler ambles toward him. Then the camera moves down for a macro shot of the insect world in his lawn, introducing the film's theme that there is a secret and much nastier world just below the surface of "Norman Rockwell" suburbia.

In "Little Secrets", Emily runs a business which keeps all the neighborhood secrets in a safe place for a fee. It takes Lynch's dark theme and turns it into a lesson about friendship and trust. Apparently this thematic content is the reason the film was given a PG rating, although it is hard to imagine that anyone would think this film required "parental guidance".

The film features a decent performance from Evan Rachel Wood (Emily), although there is nothing here that would lead anyone to think she was capable of her breakout performance in "Thirteen". Michael Angarano (Phillip) is fantastic opposite Wood and they have a nice chemistry. David Gallagher does a good job in a small role that is unnecessarily tacked onto the story, presumably to capitalize on his "7th Heaven" popularly. Blair Treu, the film's director, should have recognized in mid-production that a better resolution would have been the pairing of Emily and Phillip rather than Emily and David. It was an easy fix, minor rewrites and re-shooting a couple scenes to make Phillip the same age as Emily, they certainly look the same age. Gallagher's drawing power did not save the production commercially (it tanked big time at the box office) so they ruined the ending for nothing.

The director of photography used a lot of great crane shots and creative camera angles but overall the the shots should have been tighter (i.e. closer shots of the faces and eyes). One exception was Caitlin E. J. Meyer (Isabelle) who the camera loves and who steals her scenes as the nine-year old younger sister of Emily's best friend. Isabelle has the movie's best line "Life is complicated when you look like Claudia Schiffer".

This is a very original premise, a well-conceived and rather profound story. It should really appeal to those who liked "The Boy Who Could Fly" and "Harriet The Spy".

There is one especially good scene when the web of secrets starts to crumble. First Emily is angry at David because he was caught drinking which was his secret, making David angry at Phillip for telling Emily his secret, which makes Phillip angry at Emily for telling David that he had told her David's secret. "What a tangled web we weave...."

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Our whole family just loved this really special movie! It is funny, mysterious, deals with real issues that kids have to deal with every day...and has a strong moral message for kids (and parents). A MUST SEE for families who like going to the movies together!

"Little Secrets" stars Evan Rachel Wood from the television series "Once And Again" as Emily, a young teenage violinist who hopes to have a successful music career. While her friends are away at summer camp, Emily becomes a secret keeper. Children who are several years younger than her pay her to listen to their secrets and Emily is very good at keeping a secret. She knew she could do it when she was very young and decided it would be a very marketable skill. Emily also offers advice about maintaining the secret to the children. When a new family arrive, Emily finds a very close friend and a potential love interest. Of course with friendships and potential relationships come complications, and Emily eventually learns that "to be close to someone you can't keep secrets from them". Throughout the story, Emily is very good at keeping other people's secrets, but underneath it all she is hiding a big secret all of her own, and that secret is... sorry- it's a secret!

When I first put on this DVD I had high expectations. I was expecting something very special like the movie "A Little Princess". However what I got seemed a lot more like "The Babysitter's Club". In saying that though, although not being a masterpiece, "Little Secrets" was not a bad movie. I have since watched it several more times and the movie is now growing on me. In fact I rented the movie first before buying it. And also, I'm definitely sure we're gonna be hearing more great things about Evan Rachel Wood.

The DVD features a Commentary by writer and director, a short Making-of featurette and a Blooper reel that is actually quite funny. The real bonus here though is an Exclusive soundtrack CD, which you'd be very surprised to find on a fairly minor release such as this.

"Little Secrets" is a nice little discovery. Now here's the dilemma: do you tell your friends? Or do you keep it a secret?

For a person who does not exactly fit into the demographic for this movie nor likes that many kid flicks, I must say I thouroughly enjoyed this movie. The story is well-written and, taking into account the fact that this is a family movie, it is extremely well-acted. It tells the story of Emily and her neighborhood business of secret-keeper and her relization that keeping others' secrets (and hiding your own) is complicated. It also has charming subplots about first love, a new baby and determination, as well as the sorted secrets of all the kids in Emily's neighborhood Anyone who has seen either of the three principal actors in anything else will in my opinion be pleased with the movie and also find themselves feeling good after seeing it.