Little Wing is a coming of age story about a miserable 13 year old girl played by Brooklynn Prince. She learns that life can be sweet, but life can also be 8th grade.

Little Wing explores Kaitlyn’s (Brooklynn Prince) reasons for feeling miserable. She’s 13. Her parents just got divorced. Her brother (Simon Khan) has stopped talking. Her mother (Kelly Reilly) wants to sell their home because she can’t cover the $100,000 she needs to take over the mortgage after the divorce.

Kaitlyn loves their home. She doesn’t want to move. She has a particular sense of home, almost like the pigeons we learn about later in the movie.

One of her mom’s co-workers gives Kaitlyn two pigeons. At first she thinks it’s a dumb gift, but she grows to love and enjoy the birds.

Kaitlyn and her best friend Adam (Che Tafari) start reading up on pigeons. Adam learns that a well known pigeon racer right there where they live in Portland has a winning pigeon worth $120,000.

That’s enough to save her house. She determines to steal the bird. She talks Adam into helping her.

The bird’s owner, Jaan Vari (Brian Cox) catches them on the roof. They run, but Adam breaks his arm jumping off the fire escape and decides he wants no more to do with pigeons. However, Kaitlyn has the pigeon. She sells it to the Russian Pigeon Mafia for a mere $25,000. That’s just the start of her troubles.

The real meat of the story happens when Jaan shows up at Kaitlyn’s house wanting his prize winning bird back. He doesn’t rat Kaitlyn out to her mom (who, incidentally, is a cop) but she’s in deep trouble.

The reminder of the film is about the growing relationship between Kaitlyn and Jaan and how they get the pigeon back. There are some beautiful shots of pigeons racing and lots of pigeon lore. It’s mixed in with lessons about life and love leading up to a heartwarming but bittersweet ending.

Kaitlyn was a rebellious feminist. This got her in trouble in school. She made an empassioned speech about Kathleen Hanna during a confrontation with her English teacher (Melanie Nicholls-King) that really hit home with me. You know if Kaitlyn survives adolescence she’s going to be one powerful woman.

When Little Wing came out in 2024, it received a scathing review on Roger Ebert and many reviewers just followed that lead. But I thought the film was rewarding and heartwarming. I loved the adolescent bad judgement, the family bonds, the first kiss, the empathy gained, and the growth.

The film is streaming on Paramount +, The Roku Channel, and can be rented from several other streamers.