Little Children

Todd Field's (In the Bedroom) satirically laced examination of disaffection in suburbia is apt to divide viewers just like American Beauty: some will dismiss it as stylistically affected and self-indulgent, while others will find it to be a brilliantly conceived and executed examination of the underside of upper middle-class life. Adapted from Tom Perrotta's novel Little Children (a title that ironically refers to the adult characters more than their tiny offspring), the film links two plot threads. One involves an affair between a dissatisfied wife (Oscar-nominee Kate Winslet) and a boyishly handsome stay-at-home dad (Patrick Wilson), who conceal their assignations under the guise of taking their children on joint outings. The second concerns a convicted sex offender (Oscar-nominee Jackie Earle Haley), newly returned to the neighborhood home of his mother, who's harassed by an ex-cop (Noah Emmerich). The link between the two stories, of course, is that both involve the use or abuse of kids. Told with a powerful combination of compassion and ironic detachment, the film observes all these “children” as they suffer themselves and make others suffer with them. And the deliberately heightened tone, with periodic splashes of near-gothic horror, steamy melodrama, spiky satire, and domestic farce, gives the film its particular force. Beautifully crafted, superbly acted, sharply funny, and emotionally piercing, Little Children is a work of uncommon intelligence, imagination, humor, and poignancy that toys with standard formulas to stunning effect. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (F. Swietek)