Little Children and Notes on a Scandal (DVD)

Little Children - Little Children is wonderful and intricate drama that focuses on suburban America and the lives of people who are completely unfulfilled. Unhappy marriages. Unsatisfied lives. There is nothing more depressing than living a boring life. Sarah (Kate Winslet) is a brilliant woman who somehow finds herself in a marriage with a dull man addicted to an internet fetish website. She busies herself with her daughter who she seems at times highly disinterested in. She spends her days psychoanalyzing the local Moms at the park and her nights walking with an older woman. That is until she meets Brad (Patrick Wilson) - or The Prom King, as the park Moms call him. He is equally unsatisfied with his life. While his wife is busy making documentary films, he spends his days with his son at parks and the pool. The two become friends first. They talk and chat while their children play at the park and the pool. Sarah becomes entranced with their innocent flirations. That is, until a stormy afternoon sends them indoors. Winslet and Wilson play their characters with an understated melancholy - unearthing their mutual attraction, not in a fit of passion but in the natural course of daily events. Simply stated, the fill each other's voids. As an underscore to all this sex and passion, there is Ronnie (a wonderful, terrific, amazing Jackie Earle Haley), a man recently released from prison after exposing himself to a child. His complex role, played with such a creepy sensitivity (if that makes sense) is the absolute best thing about the movie. There is a particularly memorable scene after a date with a woman he meets through a personal ad where he oh-so-quickly destroys a trust that had been building throughout the evening. Ronnie becomes the talk and the menace of the town. The Moms and Dads hate him and make it known that he is not welcome in their town. The only one on his side is his loving and sweet mom, May. As someone who read the book and loved it, I was expecting to hate the little changes I knew they would make... but I didn't. There was a lot of backstory, supporting characters and fleshing out of story lines that was missing but it's really impossible to include everything unless you want a seven hour movie. I found the narration was bothersome but I'll let it pass since I did enjoy the movie so much (but not quite as much as Todd Field's other masterpiece In the Bedroom). Haley is brilliant. Winslet and Wilson are wonderful. The script and the direction are top notch. This is not a brilliant or perfect film, but it does have moments of brilliance and perfection.

Grade: A-

Notes On A Scadal - The only thing that seperates Notes on a Scandal from a Lifetime movie is the fact that Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett star. That's not to say I didn't thoroughly enjoy it (I love Lifetime movies!). Dench plays Barbara, a "battle axe" high school teacher. She is fiercely intelligent and utterly unloved and alone. The new year brings Sheba (Blanchett), a beautiful young art teacher with a husband and two children. Barbara slowly works her way into Sheba's life only to learn that she is carrying on an affair with a 15 year old pupil. Instead of telling the powers that be at the school, Barbara uses this knowledge to become closer and closer to Sheba. Then, of course, the secret gets out (as most secrets do). On paper, it's a trite plot and is suitable only for Lifetime. But, when you add Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and Patrick Marber's acidic script, the movie manages to become rather interesting and well done. Blanchett plays her teacher as a week character, caught up in her emotions and that is the perfect foil for Dench and her steely determination and ruthless pursuit for companionship. Another thing that keeps this from becoming a Lifetime movie is that it manages to steer clear of sensationalism to present present the sad inner lives of two women. The middle section of the film falls apart a bit at times - it's not nearly as gripping as the beginning and the conclusion (that wonderful dark humored ending), but Notes on a Scandal is still an engaging and emotionally intense film.

Grade: B+

Sidenote: I have begun watching the Horrorfest: 8 Movies To Die For (eventhough there are only 7... wtf?) films. I will save my reviews until I see all of them but I would just like to say that in the film Penny Dreadful, the keyword is Dreadful.