Anyone seen "Little Children" (movie w/ Kate Winslet, etc.)?

[Periwinkle]

Just saw it last night. Best movie I've seen in ages! Looking for others who've seen in to discuss...

[holyhelianthus]

Yes!!! I loved it but then again I love Kate Winslet.

The narration was a little weird to me but other than that I thought it was really good.

[Mommy&Will]

Omg - i absolutely hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated it. I was disturbed for days - it didn't nothing to enrich my life in any way.

Now, I'm not saying it was a movie with a lame cast, dull cinematography, or shallow plot.

Just those dark, depressing, look-how-pathetic-everyone-is-in-this-world movies are not for me. At least not this one.

But I do love Kate Winslet.

[meemee]

i just read the plot on wiki and think i might be interested in watching it actually. and yes i do love kate. i just saw one scene on youtube and i can see why it can be disturbing.

it is interesting apart from the movie - my emotional situation dictates what i enjoy and what i dont. there are great movies out there that i absolutely hate because i thought were too dark adn depressing and pulling me down (even though the plot wasnt depressing) but it was at the wrong time when i wanted a pick me upper emotionally and not a downer.

same thing with music. not so much with books. but i will visit here after i watch teh movie if it is out in dvd. its not a movie i want to watch on a big screen (instensifies everything).

[Mommy&Will]

[QUOTE=meemee;13010925] - my emotional situation dictates what i enjoy and what i dont. /QUOTE]

Oh yes, definitely. DH and I had a date night and rented it. Dumb, dumb, dumb idea. Here we are away from the kids and get a chance to hang out and relax. Ha!

[meemee]

[QUOTE=Mommy&Will;13010959]

Originally Posted by meemee

- my emotional situation dictates what i enjoy and what i dont. /QUOTE]

Oh yes, definitely. DH and I had a date night and rented it. Dumb, dumb, dumb idea. Here we are away from the kids and get a chance to hang out and relax. Ha!

ooh yeah so not a date night movie. you dont want to be left with that disturbing feeling esp. when you might have wanted something light and fun.

[Periwinkle]

Random thoughts...

The guy (Kate Winslet's paramour a.k.a. the Prom King) was trying to subscribe to Mothering Magazine. Did anyone else notice that? Dh and I giggled. That was the scene where his wife was harrassing him for subscribing to three magazines and asking him if he really NEEDED them. She was a bit controlling but a husband like that would drive me berserk so I can kind of feel her pain on that one.

The scene when the 2 couples meet (awkward!) at dinner was so funny. I especially liked when Kate Winslet's character turned to the wife and said, "this dish is delicious!" and the wife didn't even blink when she said "yeah my husband is an amazing cook, isn't he!" Whoa.

The blonde woman (of the park trio of moms) is exactly like half of the moms I know IRL, I swear. The writers NAILED that character.

[Arduinna]

I started watching it once, and turned it off quite early into it. I saw where it was going and that was enough.

[NiteNicole]

I love Kate Winselt. Love. Not enough to go see Revolutionary Road (I've already read it, I know it's too sad for me), but I love her and I really did think this was a great movie. Not a date night movie, not a feel good movie, but a really good movie.

[Periwinkle]

No, this really is an awful movie to watch with your partner if you have children. Dh and I both like movies like this but there were a few scenes where we were sort of snickering in discomfort. And I don't mean the creepy guy scenes, but like the ones where the narrator is speaking. We had ALMOST the exact conversation about cell phones a year ago, but reversed. Dh thinks cell phones are really rude and hates them for general use (we've had a few houseguests recently who have been checking their blackberries literally in the middle of a conversation with you and dh just goes off on that) but of course dh has a blackberry etc. for work, and I told him of course I need a cell phone if I am to leave the house ever! The moment I said it he got it and apologized profusely - he had just been letting his anti-cell phone feelings come forward and hadn't meant to offend me - but still... it smarted a bit. So that whole lovely scene was like pulling teeth to watch. Ugh.

[SequoiasMom]

I watched this movie during the day, by myself. I loved it. It was powerful and emotional. I wold not want to watch it with DP, that's for sure. He hates dramas, and it would probably be uncomfortable. But, I thought it was an honest, real portrayal of life.

[riverscout]

My husband and I thought is was terrible. I found it disturbing but not in a thought provoking way just in an ewwww way. I don't mind dark and disturbing movies in general but this one just seemed contrived. I thought it was just a "look-how-pathetic-everyone-is-in-this-world" (to quote a pp) kind of movie with no real depth..

[riverscout]

Forgot to mention that I will never be able to enjoy Breaking Away again after seeing this movie. That dude played creepy guy role too well. So I guess the acting was superb but the movie still stunk IMNSHO.

[mammastar2]

Haven't seen the movie, but I did read the book. Found it readable, but I wasn't as impressed with it as I'd been willing to be, somehow.

[annethcz]

I saw the movie awhile ago, and thought it was interesting. I'd considered reading the book, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe it's not worth reading? I wonder if it gives any additional insight into the story?

Originally Posted by meemee

it is interesting apart from the movie - my emotional situation dictates what i enjoy and what i dont. there are great movies out there that i absolutely hate because i thought were too dark adn depressing and pulling me down (even though the plot wasnt depressing) but it was at the wrong time when i wanted a pick me upper emotionally and not a downer.

I am completely the same way, although it extends to books for me. My interests in different types of books/movies tends to vary based on what is going on in my life at the time. Books affect me even more than movies because I spend so much more time and effort on them.

[stayinghome]

This is one of my fav movies of all time. Dh liked it too.

[That Is Nice]

Such a dark film. I didn't like the narration...not too many films are narrated like this.

Kate Winslet was impeccable, as usual.

I also read the book before it was a movie. I like the author. The book was intriguing but I have to say I didn't really relate to the characters very much. I really felt sorry for Todd's wife (hope I have the name right...the guy that Kate Winslet's character hooks up with).

My DH watched the film and scoffed the whole way through. :

[riverscout]

Originally Posted by That Is Nice

I also read the book before it was a movie. I like the author. The book was intriguing but I have to say I didn't really relate to the characters very much. I really felt sorry for Todd's wife (hope I have the name right...the guy that Kate Winslet's character hooks up with).

Kathy was her name. I never read the book so I was wondering do you think that she was a more sympathetic character in the book than in the movie? Because I didn't find myself feeling particularly sorry for her in the movie. I thought she was kind of...I dunno...emotionally distant maybe. And I thought she was kind of emasculating too.

[That Is Nice]

Originally Posted by riverscout

Kathy was her name. I never read the book so I was wondering do you think that she was a more sympathetic character in the book than in the movie? Because I didn't find myself feeling particularly sorry for her in the movie. I thought she was kind of...I dunno...emotionally distant maybe. And I thought she was kind of emasculating too.

Yes, I connected more with the Kathy character in the book, in as much as I felt empathy for her. I think they made her a bit more of an antagonist in the movie, but not overly so.

Here she is working full time, fully supporting her family financially, wanting to spend time with her child, and hoping that her husband will at some point be able to get a job, and here he is, lying to her about going to the library to study for the bar exam, which he's flunked several times, and then having an affair with a stay at home mom he meets at the park and pool.

I didn't feel Todd was emasculated by her (in the book) very much to the point that that was his reason for not telling the truth, being unfaithful to his marriage or ending it responsibly, being serious about what job he wanted in life (he didn't seem to want to be a lawyer but he went along with it and didn't do a very good job.

If he didn't want to be a lawyer, why didn't he do something else, and do it with more purpose? As he said, he was this washed up, pretty boy jock who was now letting his wife take care of everything and whose child preferred his wife even though he was the stay-at-home dad.

And in the end, Todd lets down Sarah, too. He build's up Sarah's (Kate Winslet's) hopes and expectations and bails on her, too, and decides to stay put in his marriage, and leaves Sarah hanging after making plans and promises to her.

He didn't seem very strong...he didn't make a very good commitment to either woman, and in the end he just went with what was easiest, or so it seemed.

I did feel a little empathy for Sarah's (Kate Winslet's character) too but I had more questions for her. Yes, she was married to a creep, and she ends up having an affair with another man who bails on her, but she also didn't seem to have a lot of direction or purpose in her life, before or after having her child. She talks about how she didn't have much going, even though she was passionate about literature, and was just working odd jobs when she met her older, more established husband. She doesn't seem overly interested or good as a mother until perhaps the end. And when she would hang out and take turns being belittled and belittling the other stay-at-home moms at the park, who were incredibly shallow and had a pack mentality, I thought, why doesn't she find a new park to go to, a new batch of moms to connect with...move a little further out of the circle of her neighborhood and find moms that she has more in common with.

If I encountered a group of moms like that, I'd definitely be searching out new groups by going to different parks, activities, etc.

I couldn't really relate to her as a mother, and her indifference towards her child at times, but I did have empathy for her because I felt like she disengaged because she was desperate and felt despair about her life. She seemed to come out with a stronger sense of herself in the end, though.

[riverscout]

Hey That Is Nice. I was just looking through my subscriptions for something else and noticed you had responded to my question. I don't now how I didn't see that sooner.

Interesting that they portrayed Kathy a bit differently in the movie than the book. I did feel bad for her because of all of Todd's lying and cheating. But she just seemed so aloof to me that I couldn't really relate to her much. The magazine lecture didn't help me like her either. But I guess if I were in her shoes, I might be a bit annoyed too.