Little Children

The title of this film really says it all, but not until after you have been watching for a little while. See, the children don't really play a huge role in this movie, but the adults mostly act like children. They think of only themselves and are running around irresponsibly, throwing tantrums and being completely reckless. The main male character is supposed to be studying for the bar exam, but instead he watches teenagers as they skateboard, without care (which comes back in an amazing climax). He wishes to be them instead of being the father and husband he is. Patrick Wilson plays this man and hits his second great performance, the other being Hard Candy. Kate Winslet stars as a woman who has a porn addicted husband, is obviously not ready to be a mother and begins a very torrid, hot steamy affair with Patrick Wilson. They meet on the playground as they are pushing their children on the swings and as a joke to freak out the other mothers at the park, they kiss, innocently, right?


That innocent kiss sparks the affair and they spend the rest of the movie using their children as an excuse to get together and have some hot passionate sex. They hang out in public at the swimming pool, making it seem natural and innocent. Their children become friends because they are forced into it. In a chilling side plot, Jackie Earle Haley (in a breakout role) is a man who has just been released from Prison for exposing himself to a little girl and we see what he goes through as people harass him and plaster his face all over fliers. In fact, in of the more haunting moments, Jackie shows up at the public pool, gets in the water and quickly everyone sees who he is and they quickly jump out of the pool, as if Jaws was residing there. See, we want to hope for the best for Jackie because of his mother, brilliantly played by Phillis Somerville. Because of her, we want his date with a nice woman to go well and it does until the end of the date and then it takes a filthy shocking turn, but at the same time it is heartbreaking for us. He is being endlessly harassed by one man in particular, an ex-cop who was fired for killing a kid who had a water gun and all of these stories find a way to come to an amazing climatic event. A moment where we are completely unsure of what is happening, what will happen and whether or not we should really care about any of these people.


It seems easy to write this movie off as your typical "bored rich people" movie but there is something real there. The film is narrated by an actual narrator. He is not involved int eh film at all and because of it it feels like a documentary sometimes. The narrator is actually a documentary narrator for PBS and so it makes sense. The movie stays with you when it is over, as you realize you just started rooting for a sex offender and that he is the most sympathetic character when it is all said and done. The movie has some rick darkly comic moments and all of the acting is truly phenomenal. Kate Winslet again shines, like she always does. She downplays her stunning looks hiding in baggy overalls, but she captures a woman on the verge of a breakdown perfectly. It is hard to recommend a movie like this to everyone, but I found it to be a beautifully crafted, well scripted little film.