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Little Children (2006) New
Line Cinema, 2 hrs. 10 mins.
Starring:
Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Phyllis Somerville,
Jennifer Connelly, Gregg Edelman
Directed by:
Todd Field |
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Filmmaker Todd Field revisits the
dysfunctional facade of suburbia once again in the subtly disturbing
melodrama Little Children. Five years have gone by since writer-director
Field made an impressive feature debut with In The Bedroom, another
caustic look at fractured families coming apart. Much like In The Bedroom,
Little Children is a New England-based clever and wicked-minded commentary
in what seems like a quaint slice of Norman Rockwellian America. In truth,
Field is shrewd in serving a misleading picturesque setting where all the
tidy green trees and icy blue skies can never cover up the truth about the
aimless souls and their empty-minded psyches waiting for rescue. Little
Children is about making snap judgments and not always living up to the
expectations that we sometimes falsely set for ourselves. Atmospheric in
moodiness and sporting an underlying chilliness, Little Children resonates
with a convincing sense of pathos in desperation and bewilderment.
Field and co-writer Tom Perrotta (author of the novel upon which this film
is based on) deliver a low-key if not brash bits of manipulation to spark
the proceedings and parlay this cautionary tale of escapist behavior as a
foundation for reflective confusion and despair. The screenplay is as
playfully devious as it is cohesive because the argument rings out loud
and clear—we cannot tell who needs that element of protection and security
more. Is it the actual tots that need the guidance and reassurance or is
it the wayward adults that are the proverbial little children stuck in a
regression of doubt and disdain? Skillfully, Field shines an unflattering
light on the overwhelming prospects of parenthood and the refusal for
grown-ups to accept the conditional limitations of their wandering
malaise.
Once again, the Oscar-nominated Kate Winslet reminds us why she’s such a
smart and savvy young actress in the way she gravitates toward
confrontational and articulate material. Winslet’s turn as an emotionally
neglected housewife and mother could garner her another well-deserved
Academy Award nomination. She plays Sarah, the disillusioned caretaker of
one very young daughter whose superiority over the other snoopy mothers in
the local park is quite glaring in both her narration and body language.
Sarah is a literary brainiac that fuels her cerebral entitlement over the
other Mommy Dearests. Based on the manner in which her feisty daughter
snaps at her, Sarah definitely is not happy with her homemaker status.
It’s not long before Sarah accepts a dare to get acquainted with an
attractive married man and father named Brad (Patrick Wilson from “Hard
Candy”) as he routinely walks his young son in the park. Soon Sarah and
Brad would bond gradually as the park-oriented meetings finally graduate
to meeting at the public swimming pool with offspring tagging along as
third wheels. Predictably, the parenting pair develops a steaming intimate
affair behind the backs of their preoccupied spouses with the children as
their unwilling accomplices.
Of course, we’re to understand that the existing pressures that percolate
underneath have heightened their attraction for one another. Sarah’s
highly paid corporate hubby (Gregg Edelman) is too busy sniffing the
thongs of an Internet porn babe while pleasuring himself as she carnally
“entertains” him on the monitor screen. As for Brad, he cannot get over
the fact that his childhood was interrupted by a parent’s death during his
teen years. Hence, he sits alone and watches the daredevil boys at play
while envying their freedom to act reckless and free of obligation. In the
meanwhile, he feels trapped that his go-getter gorgeous wife (Oscar-winner
Jennifer Connelly from “A Beautiful Mind”) keeps pressing him about his
law degree and what to do in order to capitalize on this educational
asset. Instead, Brad would rather put this ambition on the backburner and
dabble in some nighttime pick-up football games with a bunch of Boston
cops. And yes, he cannot forget to continuously engage in provocative
pillow talk with fellow cheating bed partner Sarah.
As a juicy side dish to the titillating tip-toeing that Sarah and Brad are
doing behind closed doors, the neighborhood is in a silent uproar over the
recent prison release of a creepy child molester named Ronny (Jackie Earl
Haley) and his enabling elderly mother (Phyllis Somerville). Scabby, frail
and balding, Ronny thinks nothing of visiting the public pool where the
kiddies are stationed to go swimming while taking a forbidden free peek
behind his goggles. In an awkwardly seriocomic moment, the parents grab
their kids from the pool once they spot Ronny in the water acting like a
perverted version of Aquaman. We haven’t seen folks evacuate a pool so
quickly since the knee-slapping floating chocolate candy bar scene in
Caddyshack. Throughout some key scenes, we watch as a disgraced and
disabled former cop (one of Brad’s football teammates) dog the hell out of
Ronny and his frail mother until they take the hint and leave what is
supposedly a “normal hamlet”.
Thoroughly engrossing and thought-provoking in its absurdity, Little
Children is a scathingly quiet gem that boasts resounding performances by
leads Winslet and Wilson. In fact, Haley is so loathsome yet strangely
sympathetic as the pubescent-seeking pariah Ronny that he deserves some
Oscar-worthy notices for his supporting tricky take as an uncontrollable
cretin in search of elusive redemption. The notion that a ragtag Ronny is
the imminent danger and seriously flawed spectacle in a community of
self-serving and lost wanderers is funny because all the participants
involved in Field’s warped world have their share of blame, shame and
sorrow to spread around like poisoned peanut butter.
Granted that showcasing the hidden decadence of an unassuming portrait of
suburbia is becoming too commonplace for many moviemakers to hang their
cynical hats on. But when it does with gripping wit and fierce-minded
forethought, films such as Little Children will always make it that much
easier to revisit broken people with their crumbling dreams to mark the
enjoyably sardonic occasion. |
