Suburbia under a magnifying glass

As I watched "Little Children," I felt like I was on one of the worst emotional rollercoasters in a long time: One long moment of laughter followed by a sudden 50-foot plummet into anxiety only to gaze at a horrific corkscrew in the distance. After it ended, I felt blown away by all the forces thrown at me in succession. \nDirector Todd Field ("In the Bedroom") takes the New York Times best-selling book by Tom Perrotta (they also collaborated on the screenplay) and places the world of suburbia under the magnifying glass. Only unlike so many portraits of that world, this time the sun is shining to burn away the seams. Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson star as parents who are no longer attracted to their spouses and feel like outcasts in their community. Soon a semi-innocent kiss between the two goes into the direction that every soccer mom gossips about at her weekly book club meeting. And at this same time, the neighborhood faces a fearful upheaval when a sex offender (portrayed by former child actor Jackie Earle Haley) moves back in with his mother down the block. \nNever before in my life have I ever felt sorry for a sex offender, but in the cinematic world, one cannot help but show pity toward Haley's character. He is so shut-in, so provoked and scorned by the community that when he tries to cool off at the local swimming pool, every single person goes into riot mode until the police escort him out. And by the end of it all, he will have left you speechless.\nJust when one thinks suburbia as a story setting has become tired and overdone, Field creates a film that rivals Sam Mendes' "American Beauty." These are fully fleshed out characters gasping for a breath when the situation takes a turn for the worst. Winslet, Wilson and Haley are joined by Jennifer Connelly (Wilson's documentarian wife), Phyllis Somerville (Haley's sympathetic mother) and Noah Emmerich (the jock ex-cop who takes pleasure in tormenting Haley on a daily basis) to form what is one of the best acting ensembles of 2006. \n"Little Children" can be incredibly uncomfortable at times and one of the hardest films to take in of last year (although 2006's "Hard Candy," which also starred Patrick Wilson, is far worse), yet by the end, I was pleased to have finally seen a film so many friends had been raving about for it certainly is one of the best films of the year.