Film

The Little Things

Name: The Little Things
Genre: Drama, Crime, Thriller
Released: 2021
Cast: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto, Chris Bauer, Michael Hyatt

A serial killer procedural with Denzel Washington as a damaged veteran cop drawn back into an old case. It's a slow-burn investigation movie, patient with its detectives' psychology, less interested in gotchas than in how obsession warps judgment. For viewers who want crime drama that trusts you to sit with dread and moral uncertainty.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like slow, character-driven police procedurals where the dread builds through conversation and stubborn legwork, and you don't mind a murky moral fog around the good guys.

Skip it if you want a tidy whodunit with brisk pacing, since this is a deliberately unhurried 128 minutes with a grim subject and few easy release valves.

What it asks of you: Expect a patient two-plus hours of interviews, stakeouts and quiet unease, with the darkness creeping in rather than erupting.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Memories of Murder2003

A Korean serial killer hunt across decades, told with moral ambiguity and formal brilliance. Haunting and controlled, it shares The Little Things' fascination with how investigations damage the investigators.

But Subtitled, and the ending will frustrate you if you need neat answers. Deliberately bleak throughout.

Mystic River2003

Three Boston cops investigating a murder, each carrying separate wounds into the case. Clint Eastwood at his most fatalistic about how the past never releases you, no matter what badge you wear.

But Unrelentingly grim and morally murky. The resolution asks whether anyone has really solved anything.

L.A. Confidential1997

Corrupt 1950s LA cops, jazz-age noir atmosphere, and a mystery that rewards watching closely. Stylish, taut, and genuinely smart about institutional corruption.

But Faster-paced than The Little Things, so a different rhythm. Some dated action sequences and sexism that feels period but still sting.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Little Things

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Manhunter1986

Both films treat the hunt itself as a form of damnation—the investigation doesn't save the detective, it corrodes them. Manhunter is the spiritual ancestor of this exact moral calculus.

Michael Mann's serial killer procedural is the real ancestor of modern crime drama, not Silence. William Petersen's detective work is precise and mechanical, and Mann shoots it like noir ballet. Austere, beautiful, utterly absorbing.

But Quieter and stranger than you expect. The synth score and 80s aesthetic confuse modern viewers. Most people haven't seen it, which means it feels even more obscure than it is.

The Silence of the Lambs1991

The serial killer procedural that shaped the genre. Scott Glenn and Jodie Foster hunt a killer while Hopkins' Hannibal warps the investigation itself. Immaculate tension.

But Famous to the point of cliché now, and the ending ties things up in ways that modern crime dramas deliberately avoid. Hannibal's charisma can overshadow the actual case.

Brick2006

High school noir where Levitt's protagonist investigates a girl's death. Rian Johnson's script is clever and tightly plotted, and the investigation pulls him into moral compromise.

But Stylised genre homage can feel mannered or cold. The high school setting may feel too clever by half, depending on mood.

Chinatown1974

Nicholson as a detective unraveling LA corruption and family secrets. A masterwork of mystery structure and the idea that investigation always costs you. Indispensable, beautifully made.

But 1974 filmmaking and attitudes; some viewers find the pace deliberate. The ending is famously dark and provides no catharsis whatsoever.

The Long Goodbye1973

Both films question whether the detective's compulsion to solve things is virtue or sickness. Gould's Marlowe and Deke are cousins—men for whom the case has become a substitute for living.

Robert Altman's Chandler adaptation where Elliott Gould shambles through LA following a murder, destroying relationships as he goes. Rambling, meditative, and weirdly funny about a man who can't stop asking questions even when he should.

But Experimental to the point of alienation. It's anti-noir written inside a noir frame. Gould's performance is bemused rather than heroic, which some find infuriating.

Quando soffia il vento2023

Both films understand that an unsolved mystery in a detective's past becomes the lens through which he views everything after. The obsession never ends; it just shapes you into a different person.

A Chinese crime film about a detective investigation spanning decades, built on the obsessive structure but told with operatic emotion and formal gorgeousness. Moves between timelines and registers like a symphony.

But Subtitled, and the pacing is Chinese (deliberate, philosophical) rather than American. The cultural register will feel distant. It's also recently released, so it requires some seeking out.