Little Children (2006)

• Year: 2006
• Released: 09 Feb 2007
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 3 Oscars. 20 wins & 61 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404203/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/little_children
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/little-children
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Drama, Romance
• Runtime: 137 min
• Writer: Todd Field, Tom Perrotta
• Director: Todd Field
• Cast: Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Patrick Wilson
• Keywords: based on novel or book, parent child relationship, small town, husband wife relationship, psychopath,

	7.5/10
	75/100
	79% – Critics
	82% – Audience

Little Children Storyline

Living in an upper middle class family-oriented suburb, Sarah and Richard Pierce, who have an infant daughter Lucy, have a dysfunctional marriage. Sarah is already seen as a bit of an outsider among the “park mothers”, so news of the Pierces’ dysfunctional marriage would drive a further wedge between Sarah and the rest of the mothers, who espouse the “white picket fence/2.4 children” mentality. Into the park comes househusband Brad Adamson and his infant son Aaron. Not knowing who he is or his story, the park mothers coin him “The Prom King” because of his preppy good looks. They collectively have a “look but don’t touch” mentality toward Brad. Brad is struggling to find his place in life, having already failed the bar exam twice and avoiding his third attempt. He continually is looking for connections to his youth, when his life held so much promise. As such, he too is in a unsatisfying marriage to his beautiful and driven wife, Kathy, the household breadwinner. By chance, Sarah and Brad get to know each other, and are attracted to each other if only in their search for that something missing in their lives. The question becomes what they are to do with their feelings. In the meantime, sex offender Ronnie McGorvey, who was convicted for exposing himself to a child, moves into the neighborhood into the home of his mother, upon whom he has a pseudo-Oedipus complex. Ex-police officer Larry Hedges, an acquaintance of Brad’s, takes it upon himself as his primary goal in life to rid the “perfect” family neighborhood of this scourge.

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Little Children Movie Reviews

love everything except the narration

Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) is in a loveless marriage and her husband is obsessed with internet porn “Slutty Kay”. She is the least prepared mother in her group at the playground. The others have taken to calling Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson) the “prom king” who brings his son to the park. He’s married to documentary maker Kathy Adamson (Jennifer Connelly) and supposed to be studying for his bar exam but he doesn’t. The girls are too scared to talk to him so Sarah decides to do it. They kiss to shock them but he can’t leave it behind him. Brad’s friend former cop Larry Hedges (Noah Emmerich) is obsessed with recently released pervert Ronnie J. McGorvey (Jackie Earle Haley).

Todd Field delivers another awards worthy film. Patrick Wilson is made for this role. He has a creepy edge that keeps him from being the perfect nice leading man. There is no other Kate Winslet. If anything, she’s too beautiful to be the frumpy housewife role. She’s luminescent. The role fits more for somebody like Jane Adams. Speaking of Jane Adams, her scene with Jackie Earle Haley is supremely horrific. Jackie gets a well-deserved comeback. My biggest issue is the narration. It gives it a literary feel coming from the novel written by Tom Perrotta. It keeps the story at a distance from the audience. There is less immediacy. It feels fictional. Some may like this way more but I found the narration a little annoying.

The Future Can Be a Different Story

In the suburbs, the boredom Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) lives a dull marriage without love with her selfish husband Richard Pierce (Gregg Edelman), who is successful in his career but with awful sexual habits. She spends the mornings with her daughter Lucy (Sadie Goldstein) in the playground observing the behavior of the suburban mothers with their children. When Sarah sees the frisson caused by the handsome “househusband” Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson) in the other women, she decides to talk to him. Brad tells her that he has failed twice in the Bar exams for lawyer and he is financially supported by his wife Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), who is a documentary filmmaker. He omits that Kathy is a woman that gives all her attention to their son Aaron (Ty Simpkins), refusing to have sex with him. Sarah feels trapped in her unhappy life and has an affair with Brad, who is the opposite of Richard, in the afternoons. Meanwhile, the pervert Ronnie J. McGorvey (Jackie Earle Haley), who was in prison for indecent exposure, returns to his mother’s house and feels the prejudice of his community against his presence, especially from the retired policeman Larry Hedges (Noah Emmerich) that is trying to force Ronnie to move away from their neighborhood.

“Little Children” is an extremely well-acted movie that uses a modern adaptation of Madame Bovary to the present days in the American suburbs. The boredom condition of Emma Bovary and Sarah Pierce are very similar, both fell trapped in an unhappy marriage, and have love affairs to escape from their boredom. This movie really deserved the nomination to the Oscar in the categories of Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, with Jackie Earle Haley having a top-notch performance in the role of a deranged sick man; Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role to the stunning Kate Winslet, one my favorite and best actress ever – my only remark is that, at least for my eyes and taste, she is a charming and beautiful woman, and apparently Sarah Pierce is a plain woman; and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, to Todd Field and Tom Perrotta that were able to perfectly develop a complex story with entwined lives of many characters in an adequate pace and eroticism. In the end, “Little Children” is one of those unforgettable and highly recommended movies. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): “Pecados Íntimos” (“Intimate Sins”)

living in the suburbs would be death

Todd Field had been an actor for many years. He appeared as a crooner in Woody Allen’s “Radio Days” and as a college buddy of Tom Cruise’s character in Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut”. He made his feature debut as a director with 2001’s “In the Bedroom”, in which a tragedy exposes the flaws in a couple’s marriage. His next movie was 2006’s “Little Children”, about some unpleasant things going on behind the veneer of a perfect suburban life.

The movie has a couple of stories going on, each loosely connected: an extramarital affair between a bored housewife (Kate Winslet) and a man (Patrick Wilson) known as a prom king, the arrival of a sex offender (Jackie Earle Haley), and a former cop (Noah Emmerich) who keeps trying to hide an ugly past. All described by an omniscient narrator.

There aren’t really any good guys or bad guys. There are simply people who do morally questionable things in a amoral setting. Lawrence Ferlinghetti once called suburbs something like “America’s tragedy”, and that’s perfectly apparent here. Winslet’s character’s friends – if you can call them friends – are the most empty-headed people of all, while Wilson’s character’s wife (Jennifer Connelly) is hard-working but barely has any relationship with anyone, including her husband.

One could make the argument that suburban Gothic is an overused genre. That might be the truth. Even so I recommend “Little Children”. The movie makes clear why the characters do what they do. Basically, they’re sick people who nonetheless have some good in them. In a way, Haley’s character is the most sympathetic in the movie (even though he did one of the most unethical things).

I recommend it.