A single mother raises a child prodigy on her own, struggling to give him every opportunity he needs to express his gift.A single mother raises a child prodigy on her own, struggling to give him every opportunity he needs to express his gift.A single mother raises a child prodigy on her own, struggling to give him every opportunity he needs to express his gift.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination
- Garth
- (as David Pierce)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJodie Foster asked David Hyde Pierce to appear in the film after remembering him from college. They both attended Yale University.
- GoofsThere are several errors in simple mathematics in the movie: Firstly, Damon "The Mathemagician" Wells correctly states that there are 25 228 800 minutes in 48 years (but 25,246,080 minutes if one counts the 12 leap-days that would occur in any span of 48 years that doesn't include a century year - only century years evenly divisible by 400, like 2000 but not 1900, are leap years), then says that this is 151 368 000 seconds. This is clearly wrong as 25 228 800 x 60 is 1 513 728 000 (more than 10 times as much). Furthermore, Fred says that the cube root of 3 796 466 is 156 although 156*156*156 is 3 796 416.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Fred Tate: I once got this fortune cookie that said, "only when all things around you are different will you truly belong". Well, we're all different that's for sure. I see Jane everyday at the institute, and once in while Dede let's her take us out to a fancy restaurant. Sometimes we even have fun. After a while I was the most famous kid at Jane's school. But then a year later, a 6 year old boy named Willie Yamaguchi got into law school, and suddenly I wasn't such a big deal anymore. But I don't care, because I was happy.
- SoundtracksI Get A Kick Out Of You
Words and music by Cole Porter
Performed by Ella Fitzgerald
Courtesy of Polygram Special Products
A Division of Polygram Group Distribution, Inc.
The story is of Fred Tate, son of single mother Dede. It's found that, at the age of 2, Fred can already read the print on the bottom of a dinner plate. Dede, and the rest of the world, realize that Fred is a genius, but Dede is determined that Fred, while given ever opportunity to expand his gift, is not exploited by the well meaning, but pretentious head mistress of a school for gifted children, Jane Grierson, portrayed by the outstanding actress Dianne Wiest.
The story's told, mainly, through the eyes of Fred; however, we also see the viewpoints of Dede & Jane who each feel that she alone has Fred's best interests at heart. We are given tremendous insight into how Fred sees and relates to the world around him. He has the understanding that's beyond most adults but only the emotional experience of his 7 years of life.
Through Fred, we can see that the academic world of gifted children isn't just filled with the nice, polite, precocious, bespectacled children that we are often shown on news magazines or public television programs. We are allowed to see that some are as outright rude and pretentious as the adults who claim to be only nurturing their gifts.
In her feature-film directorial debut, Foster is able to capture the world as Fred sees it. She's able still allow us to see Fred as the youngster he is. Fred's intellect isn't the basis of the story, just one element in it. She lets the story do the work, and she let's the character's tell the tale. She allows the characters to be real people not just the stereotypes that so often are found in films dealing with this subject matter.
Jodie Foster's only directed two films since this one ("Home For The Holidays"-1995 & "Flora Plum"-2005), and I've seen "Home For The Holidays" which I also feel was very well done. It seems that Ms. Foster is being very careful in picking her projects, much like the late Stanley Kubrick did. I only hope her unique talents are recognized and she's given more green lights for future projects.
- How long is Little Man Tate?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Mentes que brillan
- Filming locations
- Upham Hall Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA(The scene where Fred gets hit in the head with the globe was shot in front of Upham Hall)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $10,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $25,010,896
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $230,106
- Oct 14, 1991
- Gross worldwide
- $25,010,896
- Runtime1 hour 39 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1