Little Children
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.96 You Save: $11.00 (74%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.78 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Little Children
Movie Review: Little Children DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
Little Children is not for the faint of heart. There is much to be shocked by in the little town we find ourselves introduced to through the eyes of lonely stay at home mother Sarah, who likes to pass her time at the playground musing that she is only a voyeur in her life, as she studies the other moms under a microscope. Sarah's unhappiness is obvious in her words and her expressions. With little knowledge of her background, we can imagine she was destined for more than the unhappiness of babysitting a toddler with a strong dislike towards car seats. The film seeks to exploit the unhappiness of an entire town to draw a sharp light to the way even grown ups can act like little children in the most inconceivably reckless ways.
The film starts in a small park in tree lined suburbia where three chatty women are watching their young children play while discussing the latest neighborhood gossip. A fourth young woman, Sarah has a bench to herself nearby, nose in a book, seemingly not interested in joining their cattiness. Then the women's attention comes to rest on a dreamy father bringing his young son in to play. Brad pushes his young son in a swing, oblivious to the attention of the moms so caught up with their mystery man that they have secretly nicknamed him "The Prom King." Sarah becomes curious about him and learns that the three women have never even dared to talk to him. Taking this as a challenge to light up her dreary day, she bets them she can get his phone number. She takes her daughter over to the swing set where the two almost immediately open up to each other with an inquisitive chat. Letting Brad in on the bet, what starts as a playful kiss in front of the other children and women turns into a quiet moment of recognition between the two, a meeting of lonely hearts.
Sarah thinks she has good reason to be dissatisfied with her tedious life. She has a master's in English lit and feels trapped in a loveless marriage. Brad has graduated law school and is married to a gorgeous documentary filmmaker, but has trouble letting go of the past. Unable to pass the bar exam out of pure indifference, he finds himself watching the care free antics of skateboarders when he should be studying for the bar exam. As Sarah and Brad continue to find themselves drawn to each other, where they meet at the local community pool every afternoon with their kids as an escape from their lives, the relationship is platonic at first but tension hangs heavy in the air. One can easily see where this is going, however, and a day at the pool that ends in rain confirms our suspicions. A significant subplot features the return of Ronald McGorvey to the home of his mother after serving time in jail as a convicted sex offender. The buzz of his return is heard around the neighborhood as a committee is formed to protest his presence. McGorvey seemingly just wants to get on with his life, and wants to rid himself of his problem, but has trouble letting go of his own past and desires with one reason being that people won't let him.
Little Children draws us in, asking us to sympathize and empathize, before striking at us for attempting to be too forgiving or understanding. Little Children is a psychological drama that is haunting long after the heartrending ending has worn itself away. The film begs the question, Is Ronald the only monster in this tale of woe where adults left to their own devices can wreak a kind of havoc that would send ripples through any neighborhood? We know all know that birds of a feather flock together, but at what cost? Little Children asks us to ponder this and other heavy subjects.
Movie Review: Save the Children
Summary: 5 Stars
"Little Children" is a perfect movie: intelligently directed, lavishly produced, beautifully photographed, gloriously acted, intricately plotted and logically put together.
Director Todd Field's first film, "In the Bedroom" (based on a story by Andre Dubus) was also effective, moving, and brutal: a kitchen sink drama about a murder, the families involved with that murder and the repercussions involved therein.
In "Little Children," Fields has ratcheted up the living circumstances to upstate, suburban Massachusetts: plain jane, Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) unhappily married to a porno -obsessed, mostly absent husband, the drop dead gorgeous couple of Kathy and Brad Anderson (Patrick Wilson and for once not playing a victim, the luminous Jennifer Connolly) who have reached an impasse in their marriage as Kathy is it's sole provider and Brad is conflicted about taking the Law Bar exam for the third time. Thrown into this mix is a recently released from jail for exposing himself to a child, Ronald McGorvey (Jackie Earle Haley) and his loving, doting Mother (Phyllis Somerville).
Sarah and Brad, both with their children, meet in a park one day: attraction is inevitable though neither is the other ones "type." That said, what they do fill for each other are those voids that tend to get bigger and deeper as we grow older, grow more disappointed with our lives and realize that our dreams will probably not come true. Fairy-tale romance this one? Hardly. Fields is too much the realist, his psyche and artistic intuition too much about the realities of contemporary life to go that route and Winslet and Wilson give Sarah and Brad their all: vulnerable, romantic, crazy-in-lust even but again always looking over their shoulders for that "thing" that will break them up. Their sex scenes are filmed with this kind of tension and though they make love in private, they may as well be outdoors on a busy street because, though they are definitely into it...both have one eye open...waiting for the door to open, waiting to be discovered, caught, unveiled.
Though there is a lot of sex and violence here, there is really not much love except that between the "sex criminal" Ronald and his Mother. Ronald's Mom loves him without reservation though she is more than aware of his shortcomings. She even goes so far as to arrange a computer date for him as "you need to meet a nice girl, Ronald." What ensues is inevitable and funny/sad.
Jennifer Connelly plays Kathy as an icy-cold *itch, seemingly in control, career-minded, needing Brad to step up to the plate financially and professionally but at the same time needing him to be adrift, lost, emotionally wounded so that she can despise and pity him, be her whipping boy, her child yet her husband. In many ways, Kathy needs Brad to fail so that she can feel superior, to have a vessel into which she can pour her bile. When Connolly intuits the affair between Brad and Sarah at a dinner at her home, she does it with barely a nod of her head and a deep, burning flick of her beautiful eyes: you actually feel her eyes gouging a hole into you as you watch.
"Little Children" is about just that...but not the chronologically appropriate ones. It's about supposed adults who carry on without thinking like adults, without weighing or really caring about the consequences of their actions. And like Ang Lee's masterful "Ice Storm," "Little Children" is psychically set in a place in which we must tread very carefully always aware that what he is saying here might just apply to our very own lives.
Movie Review: One of the year's overlooked movies
Summary: 5 Stars
Films like Little Children almost seem tailor-made to be played at home. It's not really an insult and films like this can't play with the big boys but you almost appreciate a smaller film like this more when it's just you and the movie and not some independent film in danger of being crushed by a bigger film. It's a full-blown character study with no action sequences and for many people, that's just fine. With top acting across the board, 2 compelling stories and a comfortable pacing, this is one of those films that you'll appreciate more in your living room than on the big screen.
Sarah is a suburban housewife unhappily married to Richard, an advertising executive who is obsessed with a porn website and the model featured on it. During her trips to the neighborhood park, she sees a stay-at-home dad named Brad who other women dub "the Prom King". On a bet, Sarah goes and talks to him which ends up sparking a longing and subsequently an affair that they have to hide from Richard, the townspeople and Kathy, Brad's documentary maker wife. In the other main story, Ronald McGovney, a convicted young sex offender (arrested for exposure to a minor) moves into the neighborhood which has the town in an uproar, brought on the most by Larry, a former cop. While unhealthy mentally, he does have a caring relationship with his mother and all these stories connect as some want to be child again while others do serious things in a childlike manner.
What helps the movie considerably is its tone. The idea of a pedophile makes for some pretty stark subject matter yet at the same time there's some moments of comedy, largely brought on by narrator Will Lyman, who narrates as if he's telling the film like a mystery novel unfolding. But this is basically a character story so it's got a more leisurely pacing that some might not be accustomed to. Yet at the same time it manages to be funny without comical or satirical and serious without being accessible. One scene is quite the highlight when Ronnie enters the town pool and basically scuba dives in-between the swimming kids legs. It seems like a scene straight out of Hitchcock and it's quite gripping (but what's with all those people around the edge, was there really that many parents?) The film's main problem though is the ending since it just feels like it sputters and does that little engine sputtering sound. It starts out well enough but then it just kind of dies.
The acting on the other hand is all around fantastic. The highlight of course is Kate Winslet who manages to be serious and smart while delivering that longing and want for someone else. Jackie Earle Haley playing Ronnie is also a great find, who has that off-kilter presence yet for some reason, there's some humanity you see...that is until he does something heartbreaking to a woman on a date. The rest of the cast is fine such as Patrick Wilson playing Brad but other characters like Jennifer Connelly playing Kathy feels underwritten. One subplot that feels out of place though has a good performance behind it with Noel Emmerich (Jim Carrey's buddy in the Truman Show). There's a dramatic weight to his story but the other 2 are so interesting that his seems kind of unnecessary.
The special features are a travesty. There's literally nothing, not even its well-handled trailer. Look for a special edition in the future but I recommend you rent the film not because it's strictly a rental but the film's so good yet those looking for more of a hefty feel to the thing might want to wait.
Movie Review: Life in Your Head
Summary: 5 Stars
"Little Children" captured my imagination. I found the characters fascinating. Each person seemed to be so isolated, living inside their head. Todd Field who directed the bold and dramatic "In the Bedroom" does an incredible job. He and book author Tom Perrotta deservedly earned Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay. Sarah Pierce played by Kate Winslet loves her daughter, but isn't having much fun at being a mommy or a wife. Her husband has his own private life lurking at internet websites and ordering worn panties in the mail to spur his fantasy life. Both are incredibly isolated. Contrast this to the other couple with Jennifer Connelly playing Kathy Adamson who is lost in her work as a documentary filmmaker and so wrapped up in being a mommy that their child sleeps in their bed, literally creating a barrier between husband and wife. Patrick Wilson, who is also very good in "Evening" with Claire Danes, Vanessa Redgrave & Glenn Close, plays Brad, a young stay-at-home father who has twice failed the bar exam to become a lawyer. He isn't certain he wants to be a lawyer and spends evenings watching skateboarding teenagers. The park where they meet is populated with judgmental urban wives who call Brad the "prom king" because he's a good-looking young father who fuels their fantasies. Marsha Dietlein Bennett in her second film ("Little Manhattan") plays the blonde Cheryl who is hysterical in her chronic put-downs of everyone else. She's the kind of person who really couldn't think of anything nice to say about anyone. Then we meet the sex offender Ronnie who moves back into the neighborhood after two years in prison. Again, we meet a clinically isolated man, unable to socialize, living inside his head. Jackie Earl Haley who was in "The Bad News Bears" years ago and recently in "All the King's Men" earned his first Oscar nomination as well as film critics awards in Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, New York, Oklahoma & the Southeastern Film Critics' Circle. Larry Hedges is the policeman who assumes a vendetta against Ronnie, which climaxes at the film's finale. Noah Emmerich from "Cellular" & "Crazy in Alabama" plays the cop who is also isolated & whose world is falling apart.
This was one of the Oscar-nominated films that never played in our little town. I wanted to see Kate Winslet's Oscar-nominated performance, which earned her fifth nomination. In fact, she had nine nominations at festivals around the country and world for "Little Children," but remained winless. Phyllis Somerville who was in "Swim Fan" does a tremendous cameo as Ronnie's mother, May McGorvey. I was touched by how sincerely both Brad and Sarah loved their children, despite feeling trapped by their roles as parents. The laundry room affair was shocking with its intense explosion of desire.
"Little Children" was excellent because there were no clear good guys or bad guys. It shows everyone living inside dreams in their head while trying hard to cope with the world around them. As a result, it came across as extremely realistic. Enjoy!
Movie Review: The only movie in which I felt sympathy for a child molester...
Summary: 5 Stars
And by "sympathy," I don't mean that what he did to children was acceptable. I believe that rapists and pedophiles should be chemically castrated. I am not excusing his criminal behavior, but I'm referring to the ending and his relationship with his mother (the only one in the world who loved him). He was a pathetic character, a perverted character, but his mother's home did not deserve to be defaced like it was. His mother did not deserve the ex-policeman's harassment. I felt even more sympathy for his mother - she just wanted him to be a good boy and find a nice girl his own age. I lost all hope for him when he scared his blind date away. And his final scenes in the house and playground were just brutal.
A gloomy monster of a movie, disturbing and very thought-provoking. As for the adulterers, Brad (Patrick Wilson) and Sarah (Kate Winslet), I felt that they were quite stupid, but at the same time I didn't want them to get caught. What idiots though, at times! Why were they making out in the bright lights of the football field and not under the bleachers? I felt sure that Brad's wife would find them at any moment. And then there were Brad's obvious lies to his wife about not remembering Sarah's name, and Sarah's obvious attachment to him by asking him certain questions at the dinner table ("You never told me that!" right in front of Brad's wife!).
I liked the book group discussion very much. Sarah stuck up for Madame Bovary because she rebelled against society, she had hunger. One of the suburban moms made a good point when she said, "Does that mean cheating on your husband makes you a feminist?" Sarah answered No. But of course Sarah can empathize with Madame Bovary because she is also an adulterer and felt trapped, suffocated in her boring life. She is not very maternal either. One could also compare Sarah to Anna Karenina, although Anna left her child to be with Vronsky, while Sarah took Lucy with her. I once thought of Anna Karenina as a great feminist heroine, doing what she did for love and not caring what society thought. She broke free. But as I've grown older, I realize that Anna became more entrapped as she entered the affair. I still love her character and admire some of her qualities, but to leave her child for another man is not love. It is selfishness. I am not the most maternal person either, and I don't even have children - but after I read "One True Thing" by Anna Quindlen, my opinions about Anna Karenina changed. If you've read that book you'll understand.
Enjoyed the soothing voice of the narrator and the dreary soundtrack. I plan to read the book on which the movie is based...and I am going to reread Madame Bovary. I love it when art inspires you to see/read more of it.