Jordan and I woke up early on the third day of Chinese New Year and headed for a 10:15am show … when was the last time you did that?  And no regrets, Little Children directed by Todd Field who also did well with In The Bedroom, is the kind of film that leaves you one of those lingering feeling when you watch real simple movies that don't distract you with unnecessary special effects or manipulate you with cliche dissolves and the swelling of strings.

Coming from a director who has pretty much done in all from acting, producing, composing, camera crew Todd Field doesn't disappoint with his latest.  Hopefully, we don't have to wait 5 years before he touches our cinematic lives again.  Despite the difficult themes and plots, Little Children is a lot easier to watch than In the Bedroom.

It focuses on the lives of 3 main characters who live in a regular all American suburb, except they aren't exactly all American themselves.  A stay home dad trying to to pass his bar exam for the third time.  A convicted sex offender moving back into his Mum's home.  A stay home Mum married to a wealthy bored husband, with a Masters in English Literature who can't remember why she wanted to look after her own kid.

Real people faced with real situations and over 130mins the audience is drawn into a world where they can live vicariously through the characters.  At the end of it, the simple stories reminds us that while it's so easy to take  things for granted, life could be a lot easier if we didn't.  Sigh … didn't we all know that already … … that's why we need a good film every now and then to remind us 🙂