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Actor-turned-director Todd Field
follows up his Oscar-nominated drama, IN THE BEDROOM, with
this ambitious adaptation of Tom Perrotta's celebrated novel.
Set in the imploding minefields of modern suburbia, LITTLE
CHILDREN follows several inhabitants of a small American town
as they fumble their way through adulthood. Numb-to-life
housewife and mother Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) finds an
outlet for her yearning in gorgeous househusband Brad Adamson
(Patrick Wilson), who is crippled with insecurity over the
fact that his perfect wife, Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), is the
family breadwinner. When Sarah and Brad meet at the local
playground one afternoon, a passionate affair is sparked. In a
further attempt to reclaim his youthful fire, Brad joins a
night football league with Larry Hedges (Noah Emmerich), a
former cop who has begun to harass a convicted sex offender,
Ronnie J. McGorvey (Jackie Earle Haley). These troubled lives
eventually collide, causing each individual to take full
responsibility for their not-so-responsible actions. Adapted
for the screen by Field and Perrotta and artfully photographed
by Antonio Calvache, LITTLE CHILDREN is a bitingly funny, and
nakedly honest, critique of middle class dysfunction. Though
the cast is universally superb, it is former child actor Haley
(THE BAD NEWS BEARS, BREAKING AWAY) who steals the show. After
only two features, Field proves that he is a truly gifted
storyteller.
This film was included in the 44th New York Film Festival
organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
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