Directed by Gillian Armstrong from a screenplay by Robin Swicord, this fourth screen incarnation (fifth if you count the dreadful 1978 telemovie) of Louisa May Alcott's 1868 classic novel chronicling the lives of four sisters growing up in Concord, Mass. during and after the Civil War is an impeccably realised period melodrama that steadfastly refuses to stoop to easy sentimentality. To be sure, this is what once was euphemistically referred to as a women's picture and one can only speculate on how well its inherent and resolutely PG-rated propriety will sit with contemporary audiences long weened on liberal dollops of in-you-face realism. Still, as a window to a time when vastly different social mores and conventions relegated women to the pampered monotony of a largely ornamental existence, the film has an emotional resonance that is neither cloying nor condescending. As Jo, the eldest sister (the role Katherine Hepburn made famous in George Cukor's excellent 1933 version) Winona Ryder justifies her best actress Oscar nomination with a strong, unaffecting performance that is seamlessly underscored by the fine ensemble work of co-stars Susan Sarandon, Trini Alvarado, Kisten Dunst and Clare Danes.
