Ladybug Ladybug

Brilliant naturalistic study of schoolchildren and their teachers who are unsure if the end is coming or not. Lots of vignettes about how different children deal and how easy it is to fall into desperation and tribalism. Powerful, moving stuff.

Captures the pathos of the era succinctly and with a childhood intimacy of scale. Chilling.

Small and focused. The lack of perspective makes it very tense.

A year after L’ECLISSE and a year before DR. STRANGELOVE, the Perrys turned their attention to the possibility of nuclear apocalypse, but in a very small-scale film centred on children. The ticking clock from DAVID AND LISA returns, making clear that the existential crisis to which it points is not just psychic but civilisational. Some of the dialogue is a little humdrum, but tension builds as desperation increases, and the final scream directed at the viewer still packs a punch 60 years later.