Every Little Thing

As Spring arrives in L.A. and people are urged to 'Get your feeders out!,' Terry Masear drives down a palm tree lined street telling her passenger, Wasabi, that although he has no money, he's about to own Beverly Hills. Wasabi is one of hundreds of hummingbirds Masear attempts to rescue, usually the result of people who've found fledglings fallen from nests or injured adults who call her hotline up to fifty times a day. Terry tells us she never measures by the outcome, only the compassion that went into saving "Every Little Thing."

Laura's Review: A

Inspired by reading Masear's book, 'Fastest Things on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood,' writer/director Sally Aitken ("Playing with Sharks") has created a compelling glimpse into the fragility and fierceness of nature within the microcosm of a species which weighs only four grams at adulthood. But she's done something far more enveloping, creating a moving portrait of a woman who overcame horrific abuse in childhood to earn four graduate degrees, then find the love of her life and the strength to move on after his passing. Terry Masear is not only a champion of the hummingbird, but of humanity's instinctual desire to help them when they've fallen, her empathy with 'the finders,' as she calls them, causing her to shield them from some of nature's harsher truths.

Aitkin grabs our interest visually with sped up photography of flowers blooming, the very things which will nurture the tiny birds which are the only creatures which can fly vertically, backwards and upside down, a talent the director showcases with slow motion. She then takes us into Masear's sprawling hillside home and we are introduced to her operation, a series of large, homemade cages outfitted for various rehabilitations, all steps towards the utopian outside aviary which will be the last stop before release into the wild. Terry is delighting in colorful, tiny, crocheted nests, perfect for coddling baby birds, sent to her with a card declaring 'volunteers are unpaid not because they're worthless, but because they are priceless.' Those nests will be contrasted with the real one brought in by a female finder who is stunned to learn her own long, blond hairs have been harvested by the babies' missing mom to protect her young. We'll also learn that hummingbirds which get caught in California skylights are females, the only gender to enter homes in search of spiderwebs to cocoon their nests.

But the most rewarding part of "Every Little Thing" is the specific birds we get to meet, some who have inspiring arcs, others tragic, haunting ends. We'll meet Cactus, a bird who fell into a cactus getting several spines lodged into her back and who a woman took from the man who found her and brought to Terry. Terry tells us that raising abandoned fledglings gives her her highest success rate, but that injured adults who can no longer fly are doomed and she doesn't tell Cactus' finder that she thinks the little creature only has a 10-20% chance of making it. Yet she persists in trying to get the little bird to fly and her patience will be rewarded. Housed together, Mikhail is besotted with Alexis, a different species who puts up with his attention but is unlikely to return it. Jimmy is a character Terry predicts will become quite aggressive, hummingbirds becoming very territorial and combative in the wild (we see a picture of a brilliantly colored male and female who apparently bludgeoned each other to death). Sweet little Raisin looks healthy, but his droppings indicate an internal injury. Terry can barely contain her fury over the family who brought her Sugar Baby, the parents allowing their children to play with the bird which has been doused in sugar water, damaging its feathers. Terry will bath the tiny creature with a Q-Tip in a shallow Tupperware container and it is hard not to fall in love with this little hummingbird with the bright eyes. Some stories end sadly, Terry carefully burying the birds with flowers by their sides, their bones so fragile, she tells us, they will disappear without a trace within two days, how fleeting is their beauty.

Aitkin allows Terry to alternate between talking about individual birds and her own background, sometimes sitting directly facing the camera, and we begin to get a sense of how she found her calling, the damage done to her resulting in compassion for other damaged creatures. A beautiful profile captures her shadow, large against a pale wall as her feathered friends flit all around her to Caitlin Yeo's violin led score, gentled with flute and guitar. The film's final moments reflect unadulterated joy, Terry opening her aviary for the bittersweet release of the birds we've come to know by name. "Every Little Thing" is magical.

(Masear addresses the effect of the California wildfires on the hummingbirds in this 1/16/25 Vanity Fair article.)

Robin's Review: A

LA resident Terry Masear has a very special calling: she rescues and saves injured or sick hummingbirds. As we watch her ply her very special skills and caring, we learn about the lives of these tiny, special birds, and the special lady who saves them in “Every Little Thing.”

Warning: be prepared to feel elation, thrills, wonder, happiness and sadness while watching “Every Little Thing.”
Director Sally Aitken brings us into the life of Terry Masear as we learn of why she is so passionate about her tiny wards. She is the survivor of abuse and loss herself and this, I think, adds to the almost infinite patience she displays. It is not just for the little birds that people, strangers, bring to her to rescue. It is everyone who crosses her path with their little birds.

Mostly, though, it is the treat of watching Terry care for the diminutive hummingbirds as she nurses them back to health – not always, though, so be prepared to have your heart broken a little bit – and rehabilitates them back to the wilds of LA.
Terry, in the course of this sweetly told documentary, introduces us to her wards and they have names and personalities – Jimmy (who does not like to be alone and cries), Charlie, Cactus, Sugar Baby, Mikhail and Alexi, Raisin and Larry Bird. We also meet the rescuers who bring in the damaged hummingbirds and some invest their time in Terry and her babies.

One of the pleasures of watching Terry’s rehabilitation process is her infinite patience and understanding – the lady knows her stuff about these little birds – as she brings them back from injuries and harm. I found myself thoroughly absorbed as she takes her patients from rescue to rehabilitation to release in a wonderfully positive cycle of life.

Aside from a couple of moments of sadness, watching “Every Little Thing” kept a smile of absolute pleasure on my face as I had the wonderful opportunity to watch these amazing little critters up close and personal, as it should be.

Kino Lorber releases "Every Little Thing" on DVD on 3/11/25.