Little Children <$>— There’s the prom king, the bully, the dweeb, the bookish one, and the popular blonde who controls a clique of like-minded minions. And while they’re adults living comfortable suburban lives, they’re clearly the little children of the title. But this second film from In the Bedroom director Todd Field, based on the acclaimed novel by Tom Perrotta, actually feels more like an extension of high school — a follow-up on the types from The Breakfast Club<$>, still judging and tormenting each other 20 years later. While it doesn’t break any new ground, it is a shrewd, darkly humorous look at supposed civility, at the ways in which we allow ourselves to settle, and a rare depiction of motherhood as a less-than-awesome experience. Kate Winslet is both subtle and vibrant, as always, as the unhappily married mother of a young girl who bucks the playground rules the other mommies follow; Patrick Wilson is blandly likeable, which is appropriate, as the stay-at-home father and husband with whom she has an affair. The film could have done without the child predator subplot (even though it’s in the book), but Jackie Earle Haley is palpably creepy in the role. R for strong sexuality and nudity, language and some disturbing content. 130 minutes. Three stars. — Christy Lemire

Shortbus — With sex as explicit as many hardcore porn flicks, John Cameron Mitchell follows his delightful 2001 rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch <$>with another marvellous mix of very adult, very overt themes and images coupled with a sense of child-like innocence and awe. For all their fornicating, oral sex and other carnal acts, the characters feel like grown-ups reverting to experimental teen years, men and women given a chance to strip away years of hang-ups and put down a base for more honest, unrestrained love and sensuality in the future. The film follows a group of New York friends and lovers working out their sexual and interpersonal kinks at a free-spirited, free-loving bohemian salon. The cast of daring unknowns, which includes Sook-Yin Lee, Paul Dawson, PJ DeBoy and Lindsay Beamish, engage in real and graphic sex. Unrated but contains scenes of explicit sex. 102 minutes. Three stars. — David Germain