Little Man Tate Full Movie Download
Giulia Satmary
Little Man Tate is a 1991 American drama film directed by Jodie Foster (in her directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Scott Frank. The film stars Adam Hann-Byrd as Fred Tate, a seven-year-old child prodigy who struggles to self-actualize in social and psychological settings that largely fail to accommodate his intelligence. It also stars Foster, Dianne Wiest, Harry Connick Jr., David Hyde Pierce, Debi Mazar and P.J. Ochlan.
Dede Tate is a young working-class woman of average intelligence raising her seven-year-old son, Fred, alone. Fred shows every indication of being a genius. Fred's reading and mathematics abilities are remarkable, and he plays the piano "at competition level", but his intellect has isolated him from his public school classmates.
Fred's abilities come to the attention of Jane Grierson, a former music prodigy and now a psychologist running a school for gifted children. She asks permission from Dede to admit Fred to the school, in order to develop his intellectual gifts in ways that a public school cannot. Dede is reluctant, preferring that Fred have a more normal upbringing, but when no one comes to Fred's seventh birthday party, Dede consents.
Fred joins other brilliant young people, and participates in Jane's Odyssey of the Mind event for part of the spring. There he meets one of his heroes, who is one of Jane's prized pupils, the brilliant but slightly bizarre "Mathemagician" Damon Wells, a whiz at math who wears a black cape wherever he goes. After Fred unintentionally upstages Damon at one of the competitions at Odyssey of the Mind, the former is upset with the latter. Damon, however, warms up to Fred when out horseback riding on Jane's ranch, and is Fred's first insight to a world outside academia. Damon tells him: "It's not the size of a man's IQ that matters; it's how he uses it". Jane attempts to become more nurturing, but is unable to relate to Fred as anything other than a case study.
Fred is later enrolled at a university, where he studies quantum physics while his mother, aunt and cousins travel to Florida for the summer. An adult student named Eddie accidentally hits Fred with a globe when goofing around. To make it up to Fred, Eddie takes him out for a ride on his moped and shows him things such as how to shoot pool; it is good for Fred to spend time with someone who's not a genius. However, when he walks into Eddie's room while he's in bed with a woman, Fred runs out and Eddie chases after him. Eddie explains that he cannot be a babysitter for Fred; although he enjoys his company, Fred needs to find friends closer to his own age. The return to isolation takes its toll on Fred, as he suffers from nightmares in which he is treated as a freak and an outsider.
Jane is asked to bring Fred onto a TV panel discussion show on the topic of gifted children. Fred attends but breaks down. He claims his mother is dead, and recites a childish poem (a word-for-word repetition of a poem by Matt Montini, one of his former grade school classmates) before taking off his microphone and walking out of the studio. Dede witnesses some of this as it's being broadcast, and flies back to New York. Jane is unable to find Fred, but Dede discovers him back at their apartment, and embraces him, with him calling her "mom" for the first time in several years.
One year later, Fred has adjusted to the pressures of being a child genius, particularly after an even younger student is admitted to Jane's school. Dede hosts a well-attended birthday party for Fred, reconciling Fred's emotional development with his intellect.
Jodie Foster, who is herself a former child prodigy, was immediately impressed by the film's narrative and was interested in directing it. Orion Pictures was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time and was skeptical about Foster directing the film. They ultimately agreed after she offered to act in the film without payment. The film includes certain autobiographical elements from Foster's life.
Most of the film was shot in Over-the-Rhine and downtown Cincinnati. Other locations include the Cincinnati neighborhood of Clifton; the Village of Indian Hill; the University of Cincinnati's McMicken Hall; Miami University's Alumni Hall, Upham Hall, Hall Auditorium and the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity House, in Oxford, Ohio; and both the Wexner Center and the Ohio Theater in Columbus, Ohio.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 71% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 6.30/10.[3] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100 based on 5 reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[4]
Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four and commented on how the film's premise is similar to Foster's life, saying; "Little Man Tate is the kind of movie you enjoy watching; it's about interesting people finding out about themselves and as Foster creates this little man who sees a lot and knows a lot but is only gradually beginning to understand a lot, we can hear echoes, perhaps, of a young girl who once found it more interesting to study French than get her picture in the fan magazines".[5]
Parents need to know that this movie might have a child as the lead character, but it deals with mature themes. A single mom tells her son he had no father, that he was a miracle. A young boy's isolation and anxiety might distress sensitive audiences, while his social exclusion at school will resonate with those who have experienced the difficulties of fitting-in. A college student takes a young boy to a pool-hall where people are drinking and smoking, and later is seen semi-naked in bed with a young woman. There are scenes of social anxiety, including a television appearance and a party, and multiple references to the stress-induced ulcers suffered by a child. There are three accidents involving children, all of which result in adult/medical attention. A character smokes and drinks in private. Several scenes have name-calling and profanity. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
Seven-year-old Fred (played hauntingly well by Adam Hann-Byrd) is a budding young math/science/music genius and a sensitive soul writing poetry about his loneliness. His mother, Dede (Jodie Foster), is a hard-working waitress who wants to give him a normal life but realizes that his intelligence demands special treatment -- from school and from her. Fred is barely surviving public school, where kids never pick him for the kickball team and he amuses himself by playing mind games on the perplexed teacher. When Jane (Dianne Wiest), the head of a school for the gifted, reaches out to Fred to join in two special summer programs, Dede is torn between feeding Fred's intellect and wanting to shelter him from the world. Despite his intellectual gifts, Fred is clearly a little boy who needs his mom, who wants very much to have friends and who strives to be accepted.
LITTLE MAN TATE, Jodie Foster's directorial debut, is as empathetic as its main character, if not as brilliant. Some of the characters, though well-acted, are written as broad stereotypes. For example, good-time Eddy breaks his promises, successful Jane cannot cook, dance-loving Dede dislikes seeing her son buried in a book, and Fred is brilliant at everything (not just numbers or art). Kids will enjoy the maturity with which the characters are treated; this is not a movie that talks down to its audience.
Families can talk about how the relationship between Fred and Dede changes over the movie: What makes the characters lose or gain confidence? Fred is portrayed as a very rare sort of genius, one who excels at everything he touches but who also feels things very deeply. How does he relate to other kids? The character of the "mathemagician" says that without Jane and the academic approval she brings, he would just be "another creep in a cape." How does he differ from Fred? Parents might wish to discuss the broader theme of accepting people different from themselves.
Dede Tate (Foster) is a single mother raising her incredibly gifted son Fred (Adam Hann-Byrd). At just seven years old, Fred can paint, write poetry, play piano, and understand complex mathematics and physics. His extraordinary intelligence attracts the attention of Jane Grierson (Dianne Wiest), a former child prodigy and psychologist who runs a school for gifted children. Jane takes special interest in Fred's case, and tries to convince Dede to admit him to the Grierson Institute so he can develop his gifts in a structured environment.
Though hesitant about exposing Fred to the highly competitive world of academics, Dede eventually relents and enrolls him in Jane's school as well as several courses in college. Fred excels at the institute but can't seem to fit in with other gifted children or with college students twice his age. The separation from his mother starts to take a toll on Fred and Jane is at a loss for how to help him adjust. Dede and Jane must work together to find a way to balance Fred's unique intellectual needs with his desire to have a normal childhood.
- Child Prodigy:
- Fred is proficient at math, physics, and art at just seven years old. Other children at the Grierson Institute are gifted at (or near) genius-level as well.
- Jane was a prodigy as a child in both mathematics and as a violin player.
- Control Freak: Jane's house is impeccably organized. She very clearly cannot handle disorder.
- Disappeared Dad: Fred's father.Fred: Dede says I don't have dad. She says I'm the immaculate conception. That's a pretty big responsibility for a little kid.
- Foil: Dede and Jane.
- Friendless Background: Fred has no friends his age because he doesn't know how to relate to them.
- Good with Numbers:
- Damon Wells is famous for his incredible mathematic ability.
- Fred has an aptitude for numbers too.
- Hands-Off Parenting: Jane's parents were both doctors who traveled frequently and "needed to be alone".
- How Many Fingers?: Jane asks the pinnacle question after Damon falls off a horse.Jane: Damon? How many fingers?Damon: Orange.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Fred desperately wants to make friends and act like a normal kid.
- Innocent Prodigy: Fred is emotionally mature for his age but he's still only seven years old. His friendship with Eddie makes it all the more obvious.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation:
- Played with in Fred's case. Dede is worried that Fred's intelligence will alienate him from other kids.
- Played straight for Jane. She was a child prodigy and spent nearly all of her time studying. As an adult, her entire life has been devoted to teaching and mentoring child prodigies. She has no family or any friends besides her assistant Garth.
- Insufferable Genius: Jane wanders into insufferable territory every once in a while.
- Just a Kid: Dede fears Fred might get in over his head in college because he's so young.
- Just the Introduction to the Opposites: Fred's composure and maturity contrasts with his carefree, childlike mother Dede.
- Kids Are Cruel: Part of why Dede worries about Fred's future.
- Lethal Chef: Jane prepares a disastrous meatloaf in an attempt to get in touch with her maternal side.
- Mama Bear: Dede. She threatens to kill Jane if anything happens to Fred.
- Mathematician's Answer:Miss Nimvel: How many numbers between 1 and 10 are divisible by 2?Fred: All of Them.
- My Parents Are Dead: Fred says his mother is dead during a television interview.
- No Social Skills: Jane has no concept of how to emotionally relate to others. When Fred has a nightmare, she doesn't know how to comfort him.
- Noodle Implements: The first guest student who appears on Livewire mentions an experiment involving lasers, sulfuric acid, and butterflies.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Jane says something to this effect when Fred gets hurt a second time while on campus.
- One-Person Birthday Party: The main character hands out invitations to his party at school, only to see them blowing around on the ground when they rush in from recess. Cut to the party, where it's just him and his mom (and she doesn't count).
- Terrible Artist: Dede tries to compensate for having to sell Fred's piano by painting one on the wall. Fred points out that she didn't paint the right number of keys.
- Too Clever by Half: Fred is pushed to the limit between his college classes and instruction at the institute. The pressure causes him to have a melt-down on national television and run away from the studio.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Fred turns away and throws up after drinking a protein shake.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Dede's carefree and childlike, whereas her son Fred is composed and mature.