eddie_baggins Shining a light on both suburban life and the trial's of one being faithful to their spouses in a world were temptation lay in wait behind every corner, Todd Field's confronting and brilliantly realised Blue Velvet like look at the lives of some very flawed human beings is a strong and powerful today as it was upon release in 2006.Nominated for 3 Academy Awards including nominations for two if its stars Kate Winslet and the unforgettable Jackie Earle Haley as the films vilified and mentally unstable Ronnie, Field's film is one of those rare drama's where every single actor is on the top of their game with Winslet, Haley and in particular the often disappointing Patrick Wilson delivering what all could well be career best turns in their respective roles.A large portion of Little Children's screentime is dedicated to the budding friendship/affair that starts up between Winslet's frustrated and angry housewife Sarah and Wilson's meandering stay at home dad Brad, as the two find solace in one another as their stalled lives come to a head and their community is overtaken with concern and outrage over the recent arrival of Haley's convicted criminal to their normally quiet and unassuming suburb.Adapted for the screen alongside Little Children's novelist Tom Perrotta, Field's wastes no line of dialogue or no scene in his 130 minute expose of the ever present battle to be content and the desire to be loved and to love and it's not often film character's feel so alive and real as they do here in this film.Winslet's Sarah is an intellectually smart and dedicated mother battling with a husband whose far from loyal in his own right, Wilson's lost soul like Brad has the trophy wife and beloved son but is seemingly lost with where he wants to get to in his life while Haley's Ronnie is an initially repulsive figure that somehow becomes something more as we grow to understand his true nature and the affliction he is battling with day to day while being surrounded by hatred of a world that lacks understanding for his condition.Little Children is very far from an uplifting experience but with these true to life and often against the odds understandable creations at the forefront, Field's film becomes an experience that will become a poignant one for many and a reassurance that everyone, no matter their circumstances, is battling in the wars of life.Final Say - If you've never seen Little Children, this is well and truly a film worth tracking down and while its often confronting and unashamedly raw in its uncompromising views of everyday human life and the ups and downs of relationship's, Field's film is a movie of real power and quiet beauty that can comfortable sit alongside other similar classics like American Beauty, Blue Velvet and Magnolia.4 ½ hastily evacuated pools out of 5

krocheav This is a strange work in all departments. It looks artistically terrific, it's very well acted by most and there's even some quite good writing but, this somehow ends up being wrapped around some very suspect stuff. It offers up the odd believable situation and characters - the problem is, these also somehow become transposed within obvious and banal plot deficiencies. What to make of all this? Are the writer and director (Tom Perrotta/Todd Field) trying to become the new Stanley Kubrick successors? (seems there was some association with Kubrick - except by this time it was becoming very evident he was sinking into his own porn soaked mediocrity). This classy production, with its lashings of sexual intensity and chilling observations - attempts to convince us it's a documentary style examination of moral failings within modern society. There's the interesting use of a narrator who's designed to sound like the smooth voice-over of those intelligent WGBH documentaries that come out of Boston – giving insights into our soulless obsession with pornography in all forms of modern media. Unfortunately, it's how they go about the script that eventually lets it all down. The story's peopled by stereo-typical Hollywood types IE: Strong Women and weak men - we are introduced to a group of women who meet in the local park with their kids. While the kids play happily these soap-opera type women gossip and ogle the only man who also takes his son to the park. They sit perched together on their bench, except one, who sits alone on the ground, yes, she's the obligatory 'different' one, that's OK, but then we are told by the narrator that she's the intelligent 'plain' one of the group (Kate Winslet plain? well...) Next, we learn she's sexually ignored by a husband who is more interested in internet porn and interferes with himself while sniffing a pair of panties once worn by his websites fantasy heroine! Now back to the handsome dad in the park – he's a low- achiever whose wife is a successful documentary maker. She wears the pants and offers him little marital 'comfort'– the scene is now set for him and Kate to get it all off for some R rated...well, you know the rest. Then we have a paedophile named Ronnie, he's just been released from jail on a charge of indecent exposure involving a minor - Jackie Earle Haley gives a chilling performance as Ronnie who's definitely a psychotic worry, (as his 'singles' first date is to find out) When the town mums see Ronnie at the local swimming pool they run screaming to grab their kids from the pool, creating another over the top scene looking as if Jaws had just popped into the pool. This now brings us to the creepily weird, failed ex-cop (and macho football team member) who will now become the super aggressive vigilantly of the piece...and on it goes for nearly 2. 1/2hrs. What might have been an intelligent, stylistic study of urban moral decline ends up as a sensationalistic wallow. Seems it's another case of acclaimed movie makers trying to top themselves and ending up being everything they shouldn't. A considerable amount of money was lavished on this Academy Award contender – understandably very little came back.

Lee Eisenberg Todd Field had been an actor for many years. He appeared as a crooner in Woody Allen's "Radio Days" and as a college buddy of Tom Cruise's character in Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut". He made his feature debut as a director with 2001's "In the Bedroom", in which a tragedy exposes the flaws in a couple's marriage. His next movie was 2006's "Little Children", about some unpleasant things going on behind the veneer of a perfect suburban life.The movie has a couple of stories going on, each loosely connected: an extramarital affair between a bored housewife (Kate Winslet) and a man (Patrick Wilson) known as a prom king, the arrival of a sex offender (Jackie Earle Haley), and a former cop (Noah Emmerich) who keeps trying to hide an ugly past. All described by an omniscient narrator.There aren't really any good guys or bad guys. There are simply people who do morally questionable things in a amoral setting. Lawrence Ferlinghetti once called suburbs something like "America's tragedy", and that's perfectly apparent here. Winslet's character's friends - if you can call them friends - are the most empty-headed people of all, while Wilson's character's wife (Jennifer Connelly) is hard-working but barely has any relationship with anyone, including her husband.One could make the argument that suburban Gothic is an overused genre. That might be the truth. Even so I recommend "Little Children". The movie makes clear why the characters do what they do. Basically, they're sick people who nonetheless have some good in them. In a way, Haley's character is the most sympathetic in the movie (even though he did one of the most unethical things).I recommend it.

Wuchak "Little Children" (2006) is a well-done adult drama mixed with lots of dry humor. The story revolves around two suburban couples in Connecticut and people linked to them. Sarah (Kate Winslet) becomes increasingly intrigued by a local stay-at-home dad, Brad (Patrick Wilson), particularly when she catches her husband yielding to his base desires (in a particularly funny scene). It's a slow descent into hell, so to speak, as the situation leads to adultery and its typical consequences. There's also a subplot about a man just released from prison for exposing himself to a minor and the ex-cop who's obsessed with destroying him, but the latter has his own demons, which disqualifies him of his high horse.The film's called "little children" (presumeably taken from the Bible, e.g. 1 John) because the key adults are acting like little children in one way or another rather than responsible adults. The message of the film is simple: GROW UP. Or "everyone grows older, but not everyone grows up." Winslet shines here. "Little Children" was released nine years after her breakthrough in "Titanic" and she's just way more appealing as a woman -- a curvy whoa-man -- than as the teenager with baby fat (not that she wasn't attractive in "Titanic," of course; just that mature women are always better than immature girls IMHO). Jennifer Connelly plays Kathy, the bread-winning wife of Brad, and I find it interesting that the movie goes out of its way to say that Kathy is a "knockout" while Sarah (Winslet) is kind of plain, short and with too-thick eyebrows. I guess "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" because, as pretty as Connelly may be (just too thin), I think Kate blows her out of the water with her voluptuousness."Little Children" is just a solid adult drama. It has some dialogue-driven (and body language-driven) slow parts, but it consistently maintains your attention and adequately shows that ordinary life and the glory & shame thereof is more compelling (and funny) than the most overwrought CGI-laden action-packed idiotic "blockbuster" (not that those types of films can't be effective, like the outstanding "Terminator 2: Judgment Day").There's one brilliant scene that takes place at the dinner table where both couples finally spend time together. During the conversation Kathy picks up on her radar what's really going on between Brad and Sarah. It's subtle, but she clearly picks it up. The directing, writing and acting of this scene are all flawless -- masterful filmmaking.The ending could've been better, but the decisions two characters make show that maybe they're growing up after all; and I like that.The film runs 137 minutes and was shot in New England and New York.GRADE: B+