There is interesting story development. Juno Temple is very good in this.What makes this movie OK is that it is a great expose of a character that might deserve to be raped. The writer/director blows it by failing to examine that plot line, or Juno Temple's character failings.There are good story elements, some great dialogue and development, but its overall very poorly executed, even if the intent is controversial plot decisions.Will your life be worse for seeing this movie? No. You might even understand bad work better.

Most movies usually aren't realistic. They might be to a point but lots have a happy ending and everything is okay. Little Birds is not like this at all. It doesn't have the happy bright movie feeling. Little birds is realistic and every single event in it could easily happen. This movie also teaches a great lesson and has its shocking surprises. We learn in this movie sometimes trying new things is good, but going too far can end with terrible results. Little Birds isn't just an independent movie, it's the hard cold truth to life and proves bad things do actually happen. Always trying to impress people isn't going to get you anywhere in life except possibly leading up to terrible consequences.

Juno Temple has a talent to choose very contemporary items for her films, and 'Little Birds' is another example of this.In this film we are introduced to teenage girls aged 15, discovering the world around them. Complete with worrying parents, runaway-problems, and other nice & painful experiences.Watching 'Little Birds', for the first time I get the impression that Juno Temple is able to support a fully mature film. The structure of its plot shows no flaws.Representing the young generation, Juno Temple increasingly gets better in making us part of their current problems.

This movie is by first time filmmaker Elgin James who, developed it in a Sundance Workshop and it was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival which isn't a slam dunk for films that come up this way. James who wrote and directed movie comes from the streets of Boston and he chose to convey his gritty experiences through the characters of two teenage girls who come from the poverty stricken coastal town of Salton Sea in California and end up with some older boys on the streets of a grimy section of Los Angeles. The strength of the film is the insight and development of these two young girls Allison Huffman (Kay Panabaker) and Lily Hobart (Juno Temple) who are portrayed magnificently. Their attachment, dependency on each other and yet their differences unfold before us as they try to escape their environment. The storyline creates tension and anxiety. The three older boys with whom these girls connect David (Chris Coy), Louis (Carolos Pena) and John (Kyle Gallner) are as real as they can be and sadly operate just as you would expect them to. Compared to these five young people, the peripheral characters are somewhat an enigma to us as their back stories are thin and vague. They do seem authentic and there are excellent performances by Leslie Mann, Kate Bosworth, Neil McDonough and particularly by JR Bourne who does a captivating dramatic role at the conclusion of the movie. Although the little birds of this story had more reason to fly the coop than the daughters of many who are reading this now, we all know that when any teenager spreads her wings, anything can happen. This movie will be released in September and we will be rooting for it to fly. (2011)