Little Man Tate

Actress Jodie Foster's (The Accused, Silence of the Lambs) directorial debut is an audience-pleasing (though not condescending) story of a boy genius named Fred (Adam Hann-Byrd). Eight-year-old Fred plays classical piano at competition level, paints detailed pictures, dabbles in quantum physics, writes poetry, and has stomach ulcers. A gifted child, Fred is also remarkably sensitive, and newspaper headlines about the war, the environment, and crime literally eat holes in his stomach. Fortunately Fred has a caring mother, Dede (Jodie Foster); but Dede, a gum-chewing big-city waitress, is afraid of Fred's intelligence. When Fred keeps asking about local author and gifted children's school headmistress Jane Grierson (Dianne Wiest), Dede relents and takes Fred in for testing. When Jane realizes she's got an Albert, Jr. on her hands, she immediately requests that Fred accompany her and other gifted children to the "Odyssey of the Mind" competition, a three-week expedition. Before long, Dede's insecurity about Jane's intelligence starts to grow, and she begins to wonder whether she's going to lose her only child and best friend. But it turns out that Jane, who has a lot of whistles and bells to offer, doesn't have much of a handle on mothering (at one point, she says to Fred: "we'll do something fun, like go to the symphony or rent a nice documentary.") Dede, of course, may not be up on Tchaikovsky, but she knows mothering cold. Frankly, I've never been much impressed with Jodie Foster's acting ability, but she does a creditable job here, and gets fine performances out of the supporting cast, particularly newcomer Adam Hann-Byrd as Fred. Much of the film's believability rests squarely on the shoulders of young Hann-Byrd and he's very nearly perfect--he's equally adept at conveying genius and emotional pain with surprisingly professional restraint and subtlety. A pretty good family film, Little Man Tate is recommended. (R. Pitman) [DVD/Blu-ray Review—May 5, 2015—Olive, 99 min., PG, DVD: $24.95, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1991's Little Man Tate features a fine transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack, but no bonus features. Bottom line: Foster's solid directorial debut makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]