Little Man Tate

Little Man Tate (1991) is Jodie Foster's directorial debut, and you can watch it online on iFILM — she also appears in front of the camera. Fred Tate is seven years old, reads college-level books, composes music and solves equations that stump adults. His mother Dede, played by Foster, is a waitress raising him alone and fiercely determined to keep him in the real world.

When Fred's abilities catch the attention of Jane Grierson — a specialist in gifted children played by Dianne Wiest — Dede agrees to let him attend her program. What follows is a quiet tug-of-war between two women with very different ideas about what this boy needs. Adam Hann-Byrd carries the film in his first major role: a kid who understands nearly everything around him and is still lonely in ways he can't articulate.

Foster keeps the drama grounded — no triumphant math competition, no villain. The film is really about the gap between intellectual maturity and emotional age, and what it costs a child to live in it. Stream Little Man Tate (1991) on iFILM.