Little Man Tate (1991) on Netflix
Dede Tate raises her seven-year-old son Fred alone, and his genius has left him without friends at school. A psychologist who runs a school for gifted children wants him to enroll.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.6/1018,136 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes69%
Trailer
Plot summary
Fred Tate, seven years old, reads and does mathematics far beyond his age and plays piano at competition level. He lives with his mother Dede, a working-class woman of average intelligence raising him on her own in a small inner-city apartment, and he calls her by her first name. Fred is unlike his public school classmates, and he has no friends there, though what he wants most is some. Dede, who knew early how gifted he was, would rather he have an ordinary childhood and only sometimes indulges his interests. Jane Grierson, a former music prodigy who now runs a school for gifted children, asks Dede to let Fred enroll. Dede is reluctant, until Fred's seventh birthday celebration passes with no guests.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Little Man Tate (1991)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Orion Pictures was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time and was skeptical about Foster directing the film; the studio ultimately agreed after she offered to act in it without payment.
- Roger Ebert commented on how the film's premise is similar to Foster's own life, writing that in her little man who sees a lot and knows a lot we can hear echoes of a young girl who once found it more interesting to study French than get her picture in the fan magazines.
- Most of the film was shot around Cincinnati, including Over-the-Rhine and the University of Cincinnati's McMicken Hall, with additional scenes filmed at Miami University buildings in Oxford, Ohio, and at Columbus's Wexner Center and Ohio Theater.
