KMeeks’s review published on Letterboxd:
It was only a matter of time before I’d finally watch another Todd Field movie after being left totally speechless following Tár last year.
Field has an ability to get us invested in the lives of flawed characters that rivals any other director I’ve seen a film from. In addition, he has an ability to leave a movie lingering within you like nothing I’ve seen, where you only appreciate what you’ve watched more with every next layer you peel back, and it feels like the layers might never come to an end.
I’ve spent the past 30 minutes peeling back those layers, breaking down the film’s messages and typing them out here before deleting them when I recognized a new piece to the puzzle. I’m realizing now how impossible it is for me to break this movie down in a Letterboxd review.
It’s about our flaws. How we call attention to the flaws of others. It never advocates for the actions of the deeply flawed characters or suggests that they deserve to be forgiven, it simply shows to us how normal it is for everybody around us to be flawed. It’s about the mundanity of adult life, where maybe these flaws or “mistakes” that we make are merely an attempt to escape a life we do not want for ourselves, or a way to deal with it, or something else entirely. It’s about a contrast between how we viewed the world as little children and how we do now.
It’s dark and depressing, but also funny. It’s peering into the psychology of its characters, but also delivering deeply political messages. Todd Field has left me speechless all over again, delivering a movie that is so masterful, from the genius of its script to the profound storytelling of its cinematography.
Little Children is a masterpiece, and perhaps one of the best movies of the 21st century.
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