Todd Field's Little Children (2006) focuses on the lives of two families, a registered sex offender and an ex-cop. Their lives are tied to each other throughout the film in the "true" mosaic fashion a la Magnolia and Short Cuts. And because it's set in the American suburbs, there has to be dysfunctional families - of course. This film had all the potential to be a lot, but it becomes completely nuts at some point. One scene made me think of it as a parody, but that seems simply weird in other scenes. The narration is so off-beat, obnoxious and distracting that I really had to detach myself from the film to get through it. This detachment doesnt really fit to the film because it tries hard to be heavy drama, or so I assume. There is nothing certainly pointing at satire/parody other than the narration which - on the other hand - seems out of place. The drama had a few interesting things that could have made the film awesome, but especially the last 30 minutes just fall apart. The ending itself is weird because it doesnt feel like a closure point at all. Its form is fine though: cinematography is calm and beautiful and editing is OK. What I really have to mention, though, is Jackie Earle Haley's performance as the pedophile. He seriously nailed that role like no one else would have. What a fascinating performance!
Score: 6 out of 10
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