A challenging and finely tuned film about the stifling suffocation that can be felt in middle-class suburbia, Todd Field’s sophomore effort after 2001’s ‘In the Bedroom’ which shares this film’s startling, emotional edge is able to one-up ‘American Beauty’ as the definitive contemporary film about the desire and lust hidden just under the quaint pretense of the all-American family life.
While ‘American Beauty’ and ‘Little Children’ both achieve satire in their examinations, ‘Little Children’ is able to break out of the satiric chains ‘American Beauty’ remains shackled to for its entire running time. The satire blends seamlessly with piercing drama and a strong sense of foreboding that for my money ‘American Beauty’ never really achieved. Like Field’s impressive debut, ‘In the Bedroom,’ a film that looked at a different side of the suburban façade - angst and acrimony under a cold watchful eye, ‘Little Children’ ups the voyeurism even more.
Skillfully adapted from Tom Perrotta’s (who also wrote ‘Election’) 2004 novel who co-wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay with Fields, the two are able to establish an-almost storybook feel to the proceedings with a peculiarly dry narration device. Narration can sometimes be abused as a crutch for a weak plot, but here, it becomes it a necessary element, almost a character upon itself. Hiring Will Lyman (‘Frontline’) as the disinterested third party, the tone of the narration rather humorously reminded me of very different films - Kubrick’s ‘Barry Lyndon’ and John Laroquette’s ominous narration from ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (The slight hint of ‘…Lyndon’ may not be accidental considering the fact that Fields acted in Kubrick’s ‘Eyes Wide Shut’)
We find ourselves in a small park in tree-lined suburbia where three chatty-Cathy women are watching their young children while discussing the latest neighborhood gossip. A fourth young woman, Sarah (Kate Winslet) has a bench to herself nearby, nose in a book - seemingly not interested in the latest episode of ‘The View’ (my assumption). The attention comes to rest on a dreamy father bringing his young son in to play. Brad (Patrick Wilson) pushes his young son in a swing, oblivious to the attention of the nattering moms so caught up with their mystery man that they dub him ‘The Prom King.’
Sarah becomes curious about him and learns that the three have never dared talked to him. Taking this as a challenge to light up her dreary day, she bets them she can get his phone number. She takes her daughter over to the swing-set where the two almost immediately open up to each other with an inquisitive chat. Letting Brad in on the bet, what starts as a playful kiss in front of the other children and women turns into a quiet moment of recognition between the two – a meeting of lonely hearts.
Sarah seems to have a reason to be dissatisfied with her tedious life – she has a master’s in English lit and becomes imprisoned in the large home of her husband’s mother (who handed it down with interior decorations intact) and trapped in a loveless marriage to a nerdy businessman (Gregg Edelman) with a penchant for wearing panties around his face like a surgical mask while pleasuring himself to internet porn, Brad on the other hand seems to have just entered an early mid-life crisis.
Brad has graduated law school and is married to a gorgeous documentary filmmaker Kathy (Jennifer Connelly) but has trouble letting go of the past. Unable to pass the bar exam out of pure indifference, he finds himself watching the care-free antics of skateboarders when he should be studying for the bar exam. In an added effort to relive his glory days (he was a QB in college), he starts practicing with the police football team with his ex-fuzz bud Larry (Noah Emmerich).
As Sarah and Brad continue to find themselves drawn to each other, where they meet at the local community pool every afternoon with their kids as a respite from their lives, the relationship is platonic at first but tension hangs heavy in the air. One can easily see where this is going, however, and a day at the pool that ends in rain confirms our suspicions.
A significant subplot features the return of Ronald James McGorvey (a great Jackie Earle Haley) to the home of his mother fresh from a stint in jail as a convicted sex offender. The buzz of his return is heard around the neighborhood as a committee is formed to protest his presence. Brad’s bud Larry leads this protest with an unsympathetic, coarse fanaticism that may stem from his own guilt about a child-centered tragedy.
McGorvey seemingly just wants to get on with his life, and wants to rid himself of his problem, but has trouble letting go of his own past and desires with one reason being that people won’t let him. His adoring mother (a heartbreaking performance from Phyllis Somerville), coming to his defense incessantly at the constant barrage of Larry who stomps around their yard with a loudspeaker, persuades her son to date again which results in one of the best sequences of the film as Ronald politely escorts an emotionally-scarred Sheila (Jane Adams) on a dinner date for a ultimately disturbing end.
Ronald eventually finds himself converging with our other characters for a climatic end as bleak as it is affecting. The acting is great across the board especially by the supporting cast. Kate Winslet as Sarah and Patrick Wilson as Brad easily get the job done, but the script does most of the heavy lifting as far as these characters are concerned. Winslet makes Sarah into a frumpy young woman tired of domestic life and the performance is low-key, free from embellishment which seemed to be more than enough to garner the Academy favorite another Best Actress nom. Wilson makes his preppy jock a man full of longing for a simpler life which explains the rather simple creation. Their both talented actors and sustain the majority of the film’s running time but the parts have an inherent lack of showiness.
Noah Emmerich gets a small, juicy part as the ill-mannered Larry, a man haunted by past demons. His wrath on McGorvey seems to be something that he thinks will put him on the path to forgiveness. As the climatic events unfold, Larry is forced to open his eyes to the world outside of his own selfish endeavor. Jackie Earle Haley has the best performance in the film and his Best Supporting nom was more than deserved. Much was made about his return to the acting world after his long forced-upon exile.
A child star in the seventies/early eighties with key films like ‘The Bad News Bears’ and ‘Breaking Away,’ his looks became increasingly un-Hollywood as he got older and the parts stopped coming. With this role, though, it’s obvious his talent did not deteriorate with his looks. A role that demands both scorn and empathy, he’s able to pull off both with ease. His early scenes leave a question mark in the air, is he still dangerous? When he decides to cool off in the community pool, where panicked parents rush to get their children out, the film leaves it undecided how to react towards this character, letting the subjective nature of the scene be decided by the viewer.
The respective spouses of our two main players are not given much to do. Edelman as Sarah’s husband is given a few short scenes early on to establish his porn fetish, as if to give the audience a reason to sympathize with Sarah’s actions, but pretty much disappears until needed for the rest of the film. Connelly was seemingly cast just to be gorgeous as we really learn nothing about her.
The film is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen and is enhanced for widescreen televisions. Absolutely nothing is included on this disc, not even a trailer. New Line is usually pretty charitable when it comes to special features so I can’t imagine why they would take this route – a curious disappointment.
A powerful examination into a variety of human weaknesses, Fields is two for two for fashioning a film with biting drama, underlying tension and a platform for actors to run the gamut of human emotion, be it subtle or less so. The film is not without some slight flaws - it runs a bit too long perhaps with a few scenes posing no more than tacked on filler (i.e. the neighborhood book club discussion of ‘Madame Bovary’ where Sarah is forced to defend the title character’s infidelities is a bit gauche and not particularly effective). Menial issues aside, I found ‘Little Children’ to be one of the best pictures of 2006 which makes the complete lack of extras all the more unfortunate. The rating is for the film only.
Little Children is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a May 14th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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