Little Children

Kate is the Oscar line up!

A customer from Norwich , 17/01/2007

Blending the bleak irony and senstivity of 'American Beauty' with the sardonic wit of 'Desperate Housewives', This great film was one of the best of last year, despite having a low key cinema release.

Yet the film is perhaps more suited to the smaller screen reinforcing the claustrophobia of its surburban setting.

Kate Winslet plays Sarah, an uphappy new mum who begins affair with her equally disillusioned neigbour.

As their illict passion intensifies, we meet an array of intriguing number of characters each with their own secrets.

Although the ending is a little excessive, a funny and deeply moving portrait of a seemingly friendly community in crisis is captured with style.

The performances are all excellent, with Kate Winslet on truly expectional form - Oscar recognition is well deserved!

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Little Children

SAI81 from Tonbridge [Highly rated reviewer] , 18/03/2007

At their local playground Sarah Pierse (Winslet) and Brad Adamson (Wilson) meet and, much to the envy of the other mothers Sarah spends her days with, start talking. Soon a frienship is built and soon that evolves into an affair built around setting their children up on playdates.

At the same time a recently released pedophile (Haley) has moved back into their community to live with his mother (Somerville) only to find himself being harrassed by an ex-cop friend of Brad's (Emmerich).

It's taken Todd Field some time to follow up his directorial debut, the strong but overrated In The Bedroom (2001) but the result of not rushing is that he's found a project to really invest himself in and made a better film this time, one that really marks him out as a talent to watch.

This is an actors film and Field has assembled an excellent cast and draws fine work from all of them. There are two potential Oscar contenders here. Winslet will likely figure in the Best Actress race and though she'll probably lose to Helen Mirren's unstintingly overrated work in The Queen she certainly deserves the golden baldie. Dressing down she gives an excellent show as the housewife unhappy how her life has panned out and unable to connect with her child and makes the affair with Brad, and Sarah's thirst and need for it, believeable and compelling.

Even better is Haley whose nomination (Supporting Actor) will depend on how brave the Academy is feeling. As Ronnie he walks a difficult tightrope making us sympathise with him one moment and recoil the next. Particularly strong is his reaction to his mother saying he should find a girlfriend his own age, a mournful 'I don't want a girlfriend my own age Mommy, I wish I did'.

The cast is uniformly excellent though. Patrick Wilson builds on the promise of Hard Candy with a role 180 degrees away from that one, Noah Emmerich is sensational as the bitter, angry ex-cop and Jennifer Connely makes a nothing of a part play. Also worth mentioning is the ever brilliant Jane Adams whose one scene cameo it would be a crime to divulge, other than to say that it's another small masterpiece from a great actress.

Field is growing as a director, Little Children looks very good indeed and has several scenes that stand out, most notably the first appearence of Ronnie and an appalling reveal in the final minutes of the film.

So why not a top grade? There's one colossal miscalculation in the style that derails the films so completely every time it crops up that I very nearly didn't make it through the first act. Frequently Field drops in the voice of an omniscient narrator who seems to be reading direct from the Tom Perotta novel on which the film is based. This device (which TELLS us things we should be SEEING) is so annoying and so pretentious that I, and the rest of the audience, groaned each time it reccured. Fortunately this calms down after the first half hour but in an otherwise stunning film it's a baffling choice.

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Surprising and sexual drama!

crockery from Belfast [Highly rated reviewer] , 28/04/2007

So tasty, in fact, that Little Children is one of the most interesting films of recent years. It is far from the greatest, and is not devoid of faults, but a genuine evocation of interest should be attributed to Field's story. Every character unflinchingly demands our attention. We want to know more about precisely everyone in the community. In the front row for fascination sits Ronnie, the resident child molestor, who pends between likable and freak. He is the overriding nominator for 'Little Children' – and his presence greatly upsets the parents.

Yet most salience is given to Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson as Sarah and Pierce – two lonely, bored and desperate housespouses who, in the midst of having nothing to do, innocently begin an extramarital affair with each other. Through calm narration, the film introduces Sarah as an anthropologist and remarks how she is different from the contingent of housemoms. However it becomes apparent that the director is the anthropologist and not Sarah. Indeed Field studies human relationships accordingly, interweaving loneliness, desperation, jealousy, lust and betrayal. Sarah, in fact, loses her 'objective' stance and melts in with the rest as she indulges in her passion with Brad.

It needs to be said that 'Little Children' often tips over into comedy and it is this refreshing edge that bumps it up to 8/10 on my scale. It treats serious subjects, such as pedophilia, infidelity and loneliness – but it does so with the spark in the eye. A consistent cloud of laughter seemed to hover in the air of my theatre at the Stockholm Film Festival and Kate Winslet was undoubtedly the catalyst. She gives a fine performance with excellent emotional transparency, layered skill and above all with an inherent funny bone that translates to a goofy woman. The humour is surprisingly in-tune even with the other characters with all their quirks and afflictions, such as child-molestation and online pornography.

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Like a fine wine...

Great Expectations from Leeds, West Yorkshire [Highly rated reviewer] , 15/07/2007

Based on Tom Perrotta's 2004 novel (screenplay by him also so you know it will be a sensible interpretation of the story) Todd Field's film examines senses of loss, passion, obsession and ontological issues - how we fit, or do not fit into our 'world'. All of the characters are flawed in the sense that they know that they are going slightly off the rails, or do not accept the role they are playing in their world. A loveless marriage for Kate Winslet'; Patrick Wilson has a beautiful career wife but is losing interest in his training for the bar whilst also being house husband; Gregg Edelman is an ex-cop who left his job in disgrace and is still obsessing over issues by demonstrating them in disturbing vigilante ways and Jackie Earle Hayley is a child sex offender (within Edelman's sights) recently released from prison and who is dealing with his demons whilst living with his mother. The story, as with Todd Field's earlier film 'In The Bedroom', unpeels itself slowly and intelligently up to its tragic and shocking climax. Don't want to spoil anything of course but, personally, this was one of the best films made in 2006 and will probably become a contemporary 'classic'.

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ok

A customer from Wales , 12/07/2007

I was a bit disappointed with this film. Worth a watch - once.

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Brilliant! Add it for sure!!

Adam Large from Watford, England , 04/06/2007

This is a little unexpected gem of a film. For me it's a cross between American Beauty and Happiness, therefore it probably won't be for everyone. It's really well acted and pulls you along steadily wondering what on earth is going to happen. I highly recommend this movie. It is sad in parts but if you don't laugh out load at least once then I must be sicker than I thought.

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