Little Man Tate

GALLERY

BUY: DVD

RELEASED: 11 October 1991

CAST

Eddie … Harry Connick Jr
Dede Tate … Jodie Foster
Fred Tate … Adam Hann-Byrd
Gina … Debi Mazar
Damon Wells … P.J. Ochlan
Garth Emmerick … David Pierce
Matt Montini … Michael Shulman
Jane Grierson … Dianne Wiest

SYNOPSIS

Seven-year-old Fred Tate (Hann-Byrd) does Sistine Chapel-like chalk drawings in the playground, plays piano backwards, writes poetry and solves insanely difficult maths problems in seconds.

His mother, Dede (Foster), is a gum-chewing, tough-talking cocktail waitress, who is reluctant to let Fred enroll in a school for gifted children, run by Dr Jane Grierson (Wiest). When Dede relents to let Fred go to the Odyssey of the Mind competition with Jane, an emotional tug-of-war begins between the two women.

The performances are great, especially Hann-Byrd, who’s believable as a sensitive prodigy without ever playing the cute card. Jodie Foster’s directorial debut is a quietly amusing, thoughtful, jazz-soundtracked affair – enjoyable if not especially memorable.

DAVID’S ROLE

Jodie Foster cast him as Garth Emmerick, Jane’s assistant, having remembered David from a play he did in Yale.

It’s quite a decent supporting role; he’s not just there to look pretty, but to humanise Jane through his interactions with her. Garth’s not quite a genius himself, is sort of bumbling and shy, and makes the genius school seem a little more fallible.

BEST BITS

• Garth’s slideshow of smart kids, including the scary ten-year-old feminist poet: “In the preface, she refers to the American housewife as – and I quote – ‘A pathetic slam hound with no notion of self worth whatsoever.’”
• Garth’s troubled reaction to Jane’s meatloaf: “Looks … good.” And then: “Maybe you’re turning over a new loaf”, followed by visible punner’s remorse.
• The tango with Jodie Foster in the last scene. It’s not quite ‘Moon Dance’, but it is kinda funny.

BEST LINES

[on Fred] “I can’t explain it Jane, I mean … it’s not so much what he knows, but what he understands.”

GARTH: Hey Damon, how about a game of magic digit?
DAMON: [giving him the finger] Check out this magic digit, Garth.

DVD EXTRAS

A very frank, enjoyable commentary by Jodie Foster about her first experience as director.

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