Little Children
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Movie Reviews of Little Children
Movie Review: Excellent!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is kind of a "yuppie" version of Empire Falls. The story has various characters that face many of the same temptations as most people do and seem to act on them without thought to the consequences to their lives.
The two main characters are Todd, a "thirtyish" father who never stopped being a teenage football hero that all the girls were crazy about in high school. Todd got married to one of the popular girls (Kathy) from college, who become the typical working mother who kept her good looks. Todd is supposed to be using the summer days to study for the bar exam but he prefers to hang out in front of skateboarders and envy them and he later gets roped into playing a dangerous game of football in a league with some cops.
Then there is Sarah, who is like a lost teenager, unsure about her sexuality, who married an older man just to try to bring some sanity to her life. She is a good mother but still looking for meaning in her life. Her husband loves to use the Internet chat sites and gets involved with some pornographic sites. One day Sarah catches him doing something "disgusting" and loses whatever feeling she may have had for him.
Sarah, hangs out at the playground with her young daughter trying to "fit in" with the other mothers there but she finds their conversations empty and finds the women annoying, especially Mary Ann, a control freak that already has her four year old on a path to Harvard and "allows" her husband to make love to her only on Tuesdays.
The mothers have one thing in common is that they moon over Todd, who comes to the park everyday with his son. Sarah gets fed up with all their daydreaming about Todd and tells them so. They kind of dare her to go up to him and talk to him. Sarah does them one better and not only goes up to Todd but also gets him to kiss her right there in front of the mothers. That kiss sets off sparks, because it not only makes Sarah a pariah to the mothers, but something happens between her and Todd that will make their worlds topsy-turvy.
While the Todd/Sarah love saga unfolds, there is a sub-plot about a paroled child molester who is living in their neighborhood and is being hounded by one of Todd's cop friends. The cop's obsession seems to ruin his life.
The story to me is a kind of what if. Many of us fantasize about some of the things that the characters in the book act upon, but would never have the guts to upset our own "comfortable" lives to act on our desires.
Movie Review: A Little Love
Summary: 5 Stars
After an excellent debut directorial effort with In The Bedroom, Todd Field puts his hands on bringing Tom Perotta's Little Children to the big screen. Little Children is the kind of film that deals with very the simplistic and even banal issues in life yet still succeeds at revealing the plethora of emotions within. Such is the challenge for both the director and the cast.In Little Children, no one fails.
Central to the film are two characters, Sarah Pierce and Brad Adamson. Sarah is a suburban housewife who gave up her job to bring her little girl up. Married to a frequently absent and porn-obsessed husband, Sarah longs for her long-lost freedom. Brad is a third-time bar exam bound househusband who has put his younger days of glory behind while his beautiful wife makes documentaries for a living. When both Sarah and Brad meet one day at the playground in the park and later begin their ritualistic visits to the town pool, both fall in illicit love like never before to regain the lost days of adolescence. Interspersed throughout the film are smaller but cogent stories of related characters such as a psycho child pervert with a doting mother and a once-errant policeman full of rage.
The delightful Kate Winslet plays Sarah Pierce with gusto. Immersed in the role, she shows a gradual keenness to break out of her long-suffering marriage to a loveless man by guiltlessly engaging in secret trysts with the very attractive but somewhat deadpan Brad played by Patrick Wilson. Though both are hardly each other's type, they fell madly into the kind of love that sought to liberate them from all burdens. The love scenes between both could be best described as raw fiery passion. Everything ends with the realization that this love wasn't headed for anywhere more than their hearts desire. Equally mesmerising are the subplots of a doting mother (Phyllis Sommerville) trying to fix her just-released pervert son (Jackie Earle Haley) who eventually lost his only lifeline to the raging cop who's out to humiliate him.
Todd Field succeeds once again with his delicate treatment of the original book. Despite all the pain, loss and heartbreak, the film leaves a feeling of hope as it ends with the trusty advice, "You can't change history, but the future is a different story. You have to start somewhere." (A+)
Movie Review: In the Eyes and Minds of Little Children
Summary: 5 Stars
LITTLE CHILDREN is one of the finest films of the past decade, a film that is intensely intelligent in concept, in writing, in acting, and in production values. It is rare to find a film so right in every aspect, dealing with aspects of living we'd all rather overlook while at the same time recognizing bits and pieces of ourselves and of those around us in manner that contributes to the frightening credibility of the story.
Todd Field, so highly respected for his previous film 'In the Bedroom', directs the story from the novel by Tom Perrotta with whom he wrote the screenplay. It deals with the way children perceive the world, even when those children are of adult age. Thwarted Sarah (Kate Winslet) is bored with her life in a little town in Massachusetts where she lives a tepid life with her sexually absent husband Richard (Gregg Edelman) who prefers online porno to Sarah's needs. Sarah and her daughter Lucy spend the days at the park (with bitchy nosey boring fellow housewives and their children) and encounters the stay-at-home Dad, Brad (Patrick Wilson), called the 'Prom King' by the klatch. Sarah and Brad meet and a slow and smoldering 'affair' begins (Brad is married to the beautiful but distant Kathy (Jennifer Connelly): they are each seeking to fill the needs that they perceive have eluded them. Meanwhile the town is set on its ear by the return of convicted Ronnie (Jackie Earle Haley), released from jail for exposing himself to little children, and now living with his mother who is a strong mother and loves her son despite his past. The story is told to us by a narrator who unwinds the events like a channeler, showing how each of these disparate people come to realize that they are each acting with retarded, regressive emotional skills usually found only in children. And in the end of the story each has been forced to mature - or have they?
The entire cast is brilliant as is the quality of direction by Field. The musical score and the hauntingly beautiful cinematography add to the pulsating rhythm of this exploration of the psyches of 21st century adults. It may be a difficult movie to watch for some, but it is a triumph of cinematic art. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, May 07
Movie Review: Todd Field has now established himself as one of this country's best directors
Summary: 5 Stars
With 'Little Children,' Todd Field has now established himself as one of this country's finest directors. Has there been another actor (Eyes Wide Shut, Walking and Talking) in recent times that has so expertly made the transition to the other side of the lens? As much as I liked Field's critically acclaimed debut, 'In the Bedroom,' 'Little Children' surpasses it. Here, he teams with the Tom Perrotta, author of the novel of the same name, to craft a compelling screenplay. And talk about establishing tone - it's gripping right from the start.
Two standout scenes: the one where the convicted sex offender played by Jackie Earle Haley shows up at the neighborhood pool (a masterpiece of directorial choreography; Field and Perrotta depict sudden realization and hysteria spreading over a crowd of at least 100); and the opening scene where 'prom king' Patrick Wilson suddenly kisses Kate Winslet in the park (that moment and the immediate reaction of the nattering Moms is pitch-perfect).
Kate Winslet justly got an Oscar nomination for her portrayal; and Film Critic circles heaped just praise on the back-from-unjust-oblivion performance of Jackie Earle Haley. But I wonder why Patrick Wilson constantly got overlooked? A favorite of mine since his breakout in Mike Nichols' HBO adaptation of 'Angels in America,' he's superlative here. To a lesser extent, the same goes for character actor Noah Emmerich, who is really great as the coming-apart-at-the-seams ex-cop Larry Hedges.
And much of the success of getting the tone and scope of the novel fit into a movie has to go to Will Lyman, who provides some critical narration. Narrators often don't work at all, but Lyman's voice and intonation lend both gravitas and a knowing little smirk. He's best known for being the voice of TV's Frontline. His voice here on 'Children' grabs you right away. It makes you pay attention to every word. Lyman's presence is yet another great choice by Todd Field.
Movie Review: Do you feel bad about this?
Summary: 5 Stars
Kate Winslet stars in "Little Children" as Sarah, a bored housewife and mother. She spends her days enduring miserable playground playdates with the neighborhood mothers. She's the designated ditzy mother, who forgets to bring her daughter's snack and even fails to bond with her child. At one point, she compares herself to an anthropologist studying a foreign culture, so alienated is she from her fellow mothers. Into this morass stumbles Patrick Wilson playing Brad, the only stay-at-home father in the neighborhood. The women are fascinated by Brad and quickly nickname him "The Prom King." However, despite their fantasies about Brad, they're petrified to actually admit this handsome young father into their group. One day, Sarah does precisely that.
The movie is ultimately about isolation, which is even more strongly seen in a subplot concerning Jackie Earle Haley. His character returns home following a conviction for exposing himself to a child. The townspeople react to him with predictable venom, even as their own misdeeds unfold before our eyes. This moral ambiguity permeates every frame of "Little Children," turning a good drama into something more transcendent - something much more akin to real life. Indeed, characters go from likeable to pathetic and back again within a blink of an eye, all lead by the brilliant acting of Winslet.
Todd Field's follow-up to 2001's "In the Bedroom" is masterfully directed. Fortunately, "Little Children" manages to avoid the melodrama that marred his earlier effort. The Oscar nominated screenplay by Todd Field and Tom Perrotta is based on Perrotta's novel of the same name. The script doesn't always flow perfectly, with frequent jumps between subplots and sometimes jarring changes in tone. However, the plot avoids predictability, with just a few missteps toward the end. All in all, "Little Children" is a first-rate drama - the kind that will stick with you long after the denouement.