Movie Review - Little Manhattan (2005)

Little Manhattan was a little gem that not many knows and I felt really lucky I saw it! A romantic movie about first love between two children.. yayaya kinasai stuff at first thought but it’s totally not! I actually watched it about 2 years ago and watched it again today. The movie really soooo emo man; from innocent to sweet to awkward situations to heartbroken sadness. If Titanic like more of professional romance, Little Manhattan portrays a more real-life romance you can relate to.. without the ‘you jump, I jump’ thing, ship broken into two and the drawing :P

The movie centers on Gabe, a young boy at school played by Josh Hutcherson, happily enjoying life of pre-maturity. Then he met Rosemary Telesco (cool name by the way) at a karate class, actually his school colleague for many years but only now they really talked to each other. They became sparring partner and from there the relationship builds up. Gabe got the feel especially when he got very strong heartbeat when saw Rosemary in a beautiful flower girl dress.

So Gabe became really syiok with Rosemary and they have own karate practice together. There’s some moment of sweetness, like Gabe pinned Rosemary down on the floor in a karate move.. feels so awkward there.. Rosemary face reactions entices Gabe to take action, but Gabe didn’t and instead asks ‘wanna have some Gatorade?’ LOSE! One day they also hang out in the park (dammm New York have damm awesome park whereas here only sissy Taman Rakyat or Lake Garden). They have more outings together, like finding apartment for Gabe’s dad (Gabe’s parent is divorced, so he wanted to find apartment for his dad). The moment where Gabe and Rosemary riding on a scooter, man feel like the world is beautiful, the sky is bright, and the air is fresh! It’s a SWEET RIDE :)

Rosemary is being very unpredictable (as with saying women are unpredictable). A lot of these scenes left Gabe hanging and guessing what were she thinking?! She told Gabe that she’s gonna be off to a camp for a long time. Well fortunately Rosemary still wanna hang out with Gabe. Rosemary invited Gabe to a small jazz concert and that moment was magic. With romantic songs sung, it was a perfect setting to go extra miles. Gabe slowly grabbed hands of Rosemary and dammmm it was magic!! No wait! Rosemary took back her hands.. Gabe like OMG did I do wrong thing? Am I too fast? Nonono, Rosemary just took back her hands to wipe off the sweats off her hand and then in reverse, Rosemary grabbed back Gabe’s hand!! SWEET DEAL MAN!!!

Ahh the beauty of first and innocent love. Can’t help but smile big big. So freaking ‘ice kacang’ sweet.. that’s not all you know, after the concert ended and they reached back home, they have a little chat and then suddenly Gabe leaned over and kissed Rosemary!! Awwwwww man, these part of the movie again so freakeing sweett I’m scared of diabetes!! But then again Rosemary is as unpredictable as 6/49 Toto, her response is ‘I gotta go’. Doom on Gabe. He felt sadding. I think he can’t handled the unpredictable things anymore. One day the called up each other, at first is nice chat, but after some time, Gabe cannot ‘tahan’ and hurled the hate messages to Rosemary.

So must be very heartbroken, Gabe didn’t mean to hate Rosemary. Gabe had a few emo days and then one day finally Gabe realized what he had to do. ‘Love is about finding courage that you didn’t even know was there’ best summarized his feeling at the moment. That day is Rosemary’s aunt wedding and Gabe ran to the venue of the wedding knowing that Rosemary is flower girl on that day. When the two face off each other, it’s no more hate (kids forgives easily, sweet!). And so another moment of sweetness rising (how many sweets I’ve been taking watching this movie?!) Gabe said out the 3 magical words, you know what’s that la.. But between 2 children, it’s actually not such a tension moment like adults will face. Instead you’ll feel extreme innocence. Gabe like a silly child will spout out silly love confessions, while Rosemary dunno what to think. Well, since no concrete decision, I guess in the end they won’t be together. The truth hurts (Tissues please :( .. )

Ahhhhh.. sweets and occasional unpredictably frustations and at the end a kinda bitter ending. There’s a happy ending in that Gabe’s parents might be together again, but it’s not about them, who give a damn. ‘Love is a terrible business practiced by fools. It will trample your heart and leave you bleeding on the floor. And what do you get in the end? Nothing but a few incredible memories. The truth is there’s gonna be another girl out there, but never like a first love.’ AWWWWWWWWW SWEEEEEETNESSS!

Rating: 10/10