It’s the hunger. The refusal to accept a life of unhappiness,”” Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) prophesizes in a potent scene from “”Little Children,”” a film that hypnotically portrays the undercurrents of desperation running through a typical U.S. suburban neighborhood.
Pierce, an unhappy housewife, and Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson), a lonely stay-at-home dad, go through each monotonous day as once-ambitious lost souls searching for meaning — until they find and befriend each other. Adamson’s wife (Jennifer Connolly) is a glamorous and driven documentary filmmaker who continually pushes her husband to pass the bar exam so she won’t have to be the family’s sole breadwinner. Pierce’s husband (Greg Edelman) is a successful businessman who pays more attention to graphic porn Web sites than he does to his wife. So when they encounter each other at the public park where their kids play, sparks fly and the pair enter into an affair that reinvigorates both of their lives.
But these unfaithful lovers aren’t the only ones battling inner demons. The film also chronicles a convicted sex offender, Ronnie McGorvey (Jackie Earl Hayley), who moves into the same neighborhood as Pierce and Adamson. McGorvey is a tragic character, depicted as a man conflicted by both his own pedophilic sickness and his status as a social outcast, and Hayley’s captivatingly creepy performance manages to be at once spine-tingling and compassionate.
Carnal lust is a recurring theme in each storyline. The adulterous relationship consists of a series of secret yet passionate sexual encounters; similarly, McGorvey constantly struggles with his urge toward children. Director Tom Field never fully differentiates between normal desires and abnormal perversions, admirably avoiding demonization of McGorvey’s character, no matter how disturbing his actions may be.
As he did for “”In the Bedroom,”” Field does an exceptional job of exploring material that is both heart-wrenching and disturbing, delicately balancing the romance between Pierce and Adamson with the story of McGorvey’s sexual deviance.
Winslet’s subtle portrayal of a woman brimming with desperation is the heart and soul of “”Little Children.”” As she has an affair with a man she can never have, her heartbreak is one of the story’s most tragic aspects.
Not since “”American Beauty”” has there been such a gut-wrenching examination of the dark undertones of American suburbia. Though it’s not an easy film to watch, “”Little Children”” tackles its heavy subject matter with skill and grace.
