Little Children

As I watched Little Children, I could tell that Todd Field was interested in deconstructing the image of picture perfect suburbia. He showed that all is not well behind the white picket fences.

His follow-up film Little Children continues that theme to a more thorough level. It isn't just chronicling a couple falling apart after a tragedy as In the Bedroom did. It shows the sometimes forbidden desires people can indulge in. And believe me, it gets pretty sinful in some scenes.

How so? Sarah (Kate Winslet) and Brad (Patrick Wilson), both married to other people, are engaged in a steamy affair. (Her husband Richard (Gregg Edelman) recently got addicted to porn.) Ronnie (Jackie Earle Haley) is a recently-released sex offender trying to have a normal life but disgraced cop Larry (Noah Emmerich) won't allow it.

This I like with the Sarah and Brad story. She wants the attention her husband won't give her. He wants to feel in charge since his wife Kathy (Jennifer Connelly) basically wears the pants in the marriage. They find their needs in each other. This is the kind of love story I like.

Little Children is a damn good film. Winslet, Wilson and Haley give great performances as people trying to change their lives around. (On a different note, where has Connelly disappeared to?) This is a character study I can see myself watching time and time again.

My Rating: *****

In the Bedroom

It's hard to depict domestic life without overdoing it. (Sometimes domestic life is overdone in life itself.) It's even harder to depict it when its equilibrium becomes askew.

Todd Field, however, did it with ease for his debut In the Bedroom. Following a personal tragedy, Matt (Tom Wilkinson) and Ruth Fowler (Sissy Spacek) try to carry on with their lives. But as time slowly wears on, their grief shifts to anger.

Both Wilkinson and Spacek are fine actors, and In the Bedroom displays their skills. They don't overplay the grief within Matt and Ruth as any inexperienced actor might do. They instead have their characters cope with their loss with quiet composure.

In a similar vein to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? thirty-five years earlier, In the Bedroom depicts domestic life on the breaking point. (There's much less alcohol, mind you.) A once-loving couple's lines of communication become frayed thanks to an incident that happened during their marriage. But at least Matt and Ruth have a better chance than George and Martha.

In the Bedroom contains some fantastic work from Wilkinson, Spacek and Marisa Tomei. The pacing can be problematic at times, but no matter. Just let Field's direction do wonders on screen. Wonder if Little Children is like this...

My Rating: ****1/2