Little Women’s time shifts make it a narrative challenge at the outset but if you are patient with filmmaker Greta Gerwig, the characters of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy become rich and rewarding individuals each grappling with the pleasures and pains of being young females. This new version breaks the fourth wall and has many of the hallmarks of auto fiction. For me Little Women was less about wanting to be Jo-although I did aspire to make my mark culturally and as a young woman (at the time as a performer)-and more about wanting a sister and the wholly different warm energy of lots of close females. I hope this G rated film will still find its way to adults who will find much to dig into. Oscars? I don’t know. But now , yes, finally I do want to be Jo, finding a way to write the things closest to my heart without fear of commercial validation.