Little Children
September 23rd, 2006
Todd Field’s follow-up to In the Bedroom is based on a novel by Election author Tom Perrotta, and the mixture of satire and straight drama doesn’t sit quite right with Field’s earnest style. Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, and Patrick Wilson engage in some tame suburban version of Shortbus, but after Shortbus, every depiction of sex I’ve seen in the movies seems hollow and fake–and I don’t mean just the physical aspects. Some great moments though–full review forthcoming very soon. NYFF press conference with Todd Field and Kate Winslet was a bit of a letdown. Opens 10/6.
Little Children, Todd Field, 2006. ***
[tags]film, 3 stars, todd field, sex, suburbia, kate winslet, jennifer connelly, film[/tags]
September 24th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
I tell you what. Just looking at that picture makes me want to see this movie.
But are you telling me, that that is Kate Winslet, above, playing the unattractive woman. Really?
September 24th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
My favorite thing about that picture is the jester hat on that kid. Yes, Kate Winslet plays the unattractive woman in this movie. The hunk on the left is married to Jennifer Connelly, who’s a “knockout.” Kate Winslet wears overalls, and there’s something wrong with her eyebrows, supposedly.
September 25th, 2006 at 7:45 am
I like the jester hat too.
THe funny thing is that to me, in that picture, Winselt looks lovely and that guy looks like a total dweeb.
September 30th, 2006 at 5:52 pm
Andrew O’Hehir:
But I’m sorry, an interesting premise, a keen eye and a veneer of emotional seriousness are not enough. “Little Children” is going to get some very good reviews, and right now its producers are expecting to line up onstage at awards shows toward the end of winter. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s an unholy mess, simultaneously too Gothic and too sarcastic, that preaches liberation and delivers only puritanism. It’s a craftsmanlike but robotic imitation of “interesting” filmmaking, only in patches, and by accident, the real thing. Let it win awards; no one will even remember it in five years.