Child, Part 4: Kathy and Ian: Three-Year-Olds

The scouts

A 28-minute observational doc about toddlers learning to be people sounds like the safest possible premise, which is precisely why Humble's refusal to sentimentalize or narrate feels quietly radical—he lets the mundane *be* mundane and somehow that becomes the subversion.

Humble situates himself in the direct-cinema tradition of the NFB's own legacy, but with the patience of a formalist who trusts that attention itself becomes form; this is rigorous observation as an ethical stance, each cut a considered argument about what childhood *is*.

The decision to hold on the children's faces in unforced moments—not waiting for the 'cute' reaction but catching the genuine work of understanding—is what transforms a home-movie premise into something that feels like witnessing actual human becoming.