paul on spout.com

Any combination  of William Wyler, Samuel Goldwyn, and Walter Huston amount to a classic. Period. Dodsworth endures because it's a sophisticated piece with a lot going on beneath the surface. A retired automaker goes on a European voyage with his wife of twenty years who's going through her own midlife crisis. It's 100 minutes of snappy, intelligent dialogue injecting humor into mature themes of infidelity and marriage.

Dodsworth is a man ready to leap into the chapter of old age and enjoying the fruit of his labor. His wife is terrified of old age and runs into the arms of any man who takes an interest in her. After this film was screened at Telluride 2006, Sam Goldwyn Jr. did the Q&A. When asked why remakes of Dodsworth have been picked up and dropped so many times, he replied there's little sympathy for this film. We can't help but view movies from the time we live in. Dodsworth's wife is unsympathetic for cheating on him. Dodsworth is unsympathetic because, today, nobody understands why he doesn't just drop her and move on.

There in lies the beauty of Dodsworth. Much like The Secret Lives of Dentists, underpinning this darkly comic story is a man trying to endure a chapter in his marriage and hang on to the history he and his wife built together. It's not a decision most couples make today. But it's a mature and calculated decision reflecting incredible endurance in the man who makes it.

I met director Todd Field before the very first screening of Little Children here at Telluride 2006. He was very nervous and didn't want to say a thing about the film. I see now why he didn't. It was so important for the experience to have no notion of what would happen in this film, and I won't give anything away here.

Like his first film, In the Bedroom, Field creates unbelievable tension in the most understated moments. I described In the Bedroom as Field slowly winding a thin wire tighter and tighter. With Little Children, it's like he's ratcheting the tension of a garage door coil. There are moments I seriously wasn't sure I'd make it through. But what's unlike any film I've seen before is how he breaks these tense moments with hysterical comedy. He so deftly walks a tightrope between tragedy and comedy, it's simply awe inspiring.

The legend of the sophomore film is when a first-time filmmaker has a break out hit, the second film rarely lives up to the first. Not the case with Little Children. Every moment is original, every character so fully rounded. He even resurrects one of my favorite actors from childhood. Jackie Earl Haley played Moocher in Breaking Away, one of my favorite movies. He hasn't been in a film since. His performance in Little Children lingers with you like few do.

Little Children is not for the faint of heart. I was emotionally exhausted when it ended. But if you have the stamina, it's so worth watching this director work.