Damn, lost a bunch of stuff written about a second viewing of this. To my surprise, I found it even better a second time around – I really thought it might lose a lot when knowing what to expect from it. I’d almost forgotten about the cheeky voiceover in the time since last watching. I’m sure some might say that voiceover is “too” quirky and even that it betrays the literary roots of the movie, but I find that combined with the way the camera so often simply “boxes” the action, in a manner reminiscent of American Beauty (not the only similarity this has with that movie), it basically makes the movie exactly what is referred to early on as Kate Winslet’s character observes the other mothers in the playground – it’s an anthropological study of humans. The title, “Little Children,” to me is like a question – who are the children here? And there’s a marvelous moment towards the end where the positions of parent-child, comforter-comforted, the roles of responsibility, swap within minutes between Winslet, her daughter, and Jackie Earl Haley’s sex offender, ending with Winslet having a minor breakdown and her daughter having to assume practically the mother role, telling her it’s all okay … it contains the movie’s two most beautiful shots, that of Winslet approaching Haley from the swingset, arm outstretched, and that of her daughter alone in the street gazing at moths around a streetlight … I mean, just for those 5-10 minutes alone, this movie is a priceless wonder.

December 7th, 2006:

I don’t know what to write here for two reasons – one, that my advice to anyone planning to see this movie (and if you’re not, then start making plans) is to read as little about it as possible beforehand … so just stop right now; and two, that I really don’t know where to begin at this stage. I don’t have the words, but I’ll try.

It’s mesmerisingly beautiful, whether it’s being funny, sad, even when it’s sometimes grotesque, disturbing, almost plain wrong (and yes, it’s all those things in its never dull 2 hours plus duration), it’s completely arresting. I want and need to see this one so many times. It’s in an entirely different league from the other 46 movies I’ve seen this year. I didn’t want it to end, not least because I really feared that any ending would surely miss something out and let the rest of the movie down … boy was I wrong. It rips your heart out and shows it to you and it’s disgusting and human, beautiful and ugly, despairing and hoping.

Just watch it. Just … wow.

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