Little Children: Dont let it slip under the radar!
October 17th 2008 04:31
Very few films can pull off satire without it being shoved in your face. The mockumentary has become a popular format for the lazy filmmaker.
Little Children (2006) is a rare exception. It excels as a modern day tale (complete with narrator) about the hum-drum existence of suburban life and the emotional complexity of the adults within it.
Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) is an educated but un-fulfilled house-wife who takes her daughter, Lucy, to the park each morning. And each morning she is subjected to the inane conversation of her fellow ‘Stepford’- like suburban mothers. The only excitement in their day is watching the only stay-at-home dad, Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson) (whom they have nick-named “The Prom King”), bring his son to the park.
It all starts when Sarah torments the other mums by kissing Brad (as a practical joke). Brad who is married to Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), has a lot in common with Sarah, he is also bored with his life and its direction - and continuously fails the bar exam. Their eventual affair is filled with passion, secrecy, lust, denial and regret. And it’s a pleasure to watch.
Directed and adapted for the screen by the fascinating Todd Field (who brought us In the Bedroom) from the novel of the same name, by Tom Perretta, the film asks its viewers to observe, at a distance, the mirrored complexity of adults, who in fact are, 'little children' themselves.
In an intriguing and disturbingly darker sub-plot, the town has a recently released sex-offender in their midst, played unnervingly by Jackie Earle Haley. Themes of anger, mistrust and hyperbolic tension underlay the passionate affair and add to the story's effectiveness. In a pivotal narrative arc, the audience is left in suspended animation, waiting for something truly bad to happen…Does it? Will it? That’s Todd Fields strength - the ability to turn exaggerated bleakness into truly captivating cinema.
While the audience is purposely drawn to look at the film’s protagonists from a safe distance (through the use of a narrator and clever camera work) it’s near impossible NOT to empathise with any character Kate Winslet plays. She is indeed captivating in this role (and looks even better than ever). So convincing is her portrayal of a young Boston house-wife that she was nominated for an Academy Award. Two other nominations were received by the film for its screen adaption and for Supporting Actor (Haley).
The original score by Thomas Newman (Six Feet Under, The Good German) is infallible and simply magical towards the end of the film, where it is used to create a sense of eeriness, guaranteed to leave any viewer spellbound.
So if you didn’t catch Little Children when it was released a couple years back, it’s well worth the watch now.
Little Children (2006) is a rare exception. It excels as a modern day tale (complete with narrator) about the hum-drum existence of suburban life and the emotional complexity of the adults within it.
It all starts when Sarah torments the other mums by kissing Brad (as a practical joke). Brad who is married to Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), has a lot in common with Sarah, he is also bored with his life and its direction - and continuously fails the bar exam. Their eventual affair is filled with passion, secrecy, lust, denial and regret. And it’s a pleasure to watch.
Directed and adapted for the screen by the fascinating Todd Field (who brought us In the Bedroom) from the novel of the same name, by Tom Perretta, the film asks its viewers to observe, at a distance, the mirrored complexity of adults, who in fact are, 'little children' themselves.
In an intriguing and disturbingly darker sub-plot, the town has a recently released sex-offender in their midst, played unnervingly by Jackie Earle Haley. Themes of anger, mistrust and hyperbolic tension underlay the passionate affair and add to the story's effectiveness. In a pivotal narrative arc, the audience is left in suspended animation, waiting for something truly bad to happen…Does it? Will it? That’s Todd Fields strength - the ability to turn exaggerated bleakness into truly captivating cinema.
While the audience is purposely drawn to look at the film’s protagonists from a safe distance (through the use of a narrator and clever camera work) it’s near impossible NOT to empathise with any character Kate Winslet plays. She is indeed captivating in this role (and looks even better than ever). So convincing is her portrayal of a young Boston house-wife that she was nominated for an Academy Award. Two other nominations were received by the film for its screen adaption and for Supporting Actor (Haley).
The original score by Thomas Newman (Six Feet Under, The Good German) is infallible and simply magical towards the end of the film, where it is used to create a sense of eeriness, guaranteed to leave any viewer spellbound.
So if you didn’t catch Little Children when it was released a couple years back, it’s well worth the watch now.
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