Very few movies captivate us to the core of our humanity and evoke who we really are on screen. Our desires, our sadnesses, our lost dreams. Hardly any movies ever accomplish this, and rarely do we actually want the movies we watch to remind us of the most painful aspects of our lives. It seems that if there was a movie with the power to do this is would be something of a sacred experience. Cathartic. Healing.

Little Children is indeed, and surprisingly, the tool to go back into your past and remember the quiet desperation. The hoping, the longing for something else. The seeking of it and the silent downfall. The momentary dying of dreams and hopes to prepare us for a different life that is to come. A new life within this one, or simply a new life through death. This movie is the chaos before the calm. The moments where life takes us down our darkest desires to end up right where we started, and thinking that this is the moment of our second chance to get our lives straight. The crossroads where we look back on what we’ve become and decide to be different.

This is a magnificent film. It takes you on a journey that is uncomfortable at best and haunting at worst, but still a voyage you would be happy you took because it’s real. This is a movie about real things, real people, real life and how we shape the choices we make. Terrifying, exhilarating, joyous and melancholy. Little Children is not just a must-see, it has answers for the darkness that tempts us each living day.