It's a nice surprise sneaking out on the Apple platform. In October 2019, Amazon Prime Video presented "Modern Love", a series on love in all its forms where each episode was adapted from a testimony published in the "New York Times". Same principle with "Little America", but this time it is about immigration. The eight parts of the first season thus correspond to eight stories of men and women from elsewhere and now living in the United States. Originally published in the American magazine "Epic Magazine", they come to life in images in this fiction with multiple flavors.
Among the producers of this new series, we find in particular Alan Yang, who had created, with the actor Aziz Ansari, the excellent "Master of None" for Netflix. The hero was already exploring his identity as the son of Indian immigrants. With "Little America", the horizons are broadened by following characters from multiple countries and cultures.
Over the course of the episodes, we become fond of all these faces from different eras and ages. Like Marisol, a young Latina whose mother is a cleaning lady and who signs up for a squash class to get free shoes. Or Iwegbuna, a student from Nigeria, passionate about westerns, whose family gives him news by sending audio cassettes. Also meet Rafiq, a Syrian homosexual forced to hide in his country which he will have to leave.
A season 2 already ordered
The most unexpected episode is the fourth. Not only because he has almost no dialogue, but also because Mélanie Laurent embodies a woman in search of meaning who participates in a silent retirement. Bright, the French actress takes us into her laughter and her encounters by saying her first words only in the final moments of the intrigue. Also note in this section, the presence of Zachary Quinto ("Heroes", "Star Trek") who directs the meditation sessions.
The diversity of the trajectories transcribed in "Little America" is found in the credits, which differ with each episode. Usually, this kind of anthology - when each component is a story independent of the others - lacks homogeneity, alternating poignant and arbitrary episodes. “Little America” however seduces from start to finish. Until we draw a few tears when reading the concluding words of each slice of life, when the real person on which the fiction is based explains what has become of them after the events shown on the screen.
A season 2 is already ordered by Apple TV + and we say that a French version would be welcome. If it is different from that of the United States, our immigration is incredibly rich which deserves to be highlighted with the same modesty and sensitivity as in "Little America".
EDITOR'S NOTE: 4.5 / 5
“Little America”, American series with Mélanie Laurent, Zachary Quinto, Conphidance… Season 1 (2,020), 8 episodes of 29 to 35 minutes each.
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