Cinerant

I've Been Delinquent

A conversation (or the jist of one) I had yesterday.

FRIEND:  I haven’t really seen any movies in the last couple of months.  

ME:  Don’t worry.  It’s not like there’s been anything that amazing.  I mean, Little Children is still the best thing I’ve seen all year.

FRIEND:  Little Children?  I don’t think I’ve even heard of that.

ME:  You have.  It’s the one with Kate Winslet and Patrick Wilson by guy that directed In the Bedroom.  

FRIEND: Uh….  No.  

ME:  Really?  (Interior monologue:  What in the world have I not been doing if this guy that I talk to on a regular basis hasn’t even heard of this movie?  No wonder it’s not doing anything box-office-wise when people like me are so moved by its complexity, humor, delicate balance and deft acting that we keep the movie’s genius to ourselves.  Shame, Shame, Shame.)

FRIEND:  Nope.

ME:  Well, consider yourself notified.

And you too.  If you can still find this playing in your area, it’s definitely worth checking out.  It’s not an easy film to summarize because it has so much going on.  You could argue that the main plot is about an affair between a house husband and house wife with little children, but despite the spot on performances by Winslet and Wilson (Angels in America, The Phantom of the Opera), that doesn’t even touch on half of the movie and other brilliant performances by Phyllis Somerville, who’s going to be unfairly overlooked for an Oscar nomination, and Jackie Earl Haley, who also received a Screen Actor’s Guild nomination for his work in the film.

The film’s not perfect, but it’s what impressed me the most in 2006.  

posted by cinegod @ 9:01 AM