Children of Men - Discussion thread (1 Viewer)

[Jason_V]

CoM isn't playing anywhere near me this weekend. I have been looking forward to it for...I don't know how long. :frowning:

 

[Tim Glover]

Looks like CoM opens this weekend in my city. ...can't wait to see it. As Chuck stated, earlier this fall, this one was on my got to see radar. Glad it's finally coming.

 

[Mark Kalzer]

Saw on New Years Eve in Toronto! Was glad to take the opportunity! It has a weird 'Half Life 2' feel to it and I mean that in a good way. Has probably the best fictional battle scene I've seen in cinema thus far. Plan to see it a second time when it reaches wide release.

 

[Mike.P]

This finally goes wide tomorrow! I CAN'T WAIT ANYMORE!

 

[Lou Sytsma]

This and soon Pan's Labrynith. Finally!

 

[Tim Glover]

Going to the 4:25pm show today....

 

[Greg_R]

Was this (basic) plot on a TV episode (Outer Limits maybe)? It seems very familiar to me...

 

[Chris]

One of the best eps of the new Outer Limits was basically the same.. people could not have kids.. well, they could, but the kids would be born a soupy mess or dead or deformed. So, childbirth stopped.. so they thought.. and then one woman was about to have a normal child and there was a big fight to smuggle her out of the clutches of the government and to a rebel group whow as trying to protect her as the government wanted to continue to breed her as many times as possible.

 

[Allen Hirsch]

I'll second it's a tough, brutal film - far more than I anticipated from the reviews I'd read before seeing it that called it uplifting, inspired, etc. I found the humor a helpful respite and relief from the almost non-stop dreariness and anxiety and violence. Relentless, even.

Huge props to set design - I too noticed the newspaper headlines, as just some of the incredible detail in scene after scene.

This felt a bit like "The Fugitive" set in 2007 Iraq - but it's London in 2027, if I could do the movie a disservice and come up with just a 5-second Hollywood story pitch for COM.

 

[Tim Glover]

You're right Allen, the more I think about the humor it really was needed. And some of it was funny. I'd like to see this again but it's so intense I think I should wait for my Prozac to get refilled

I can look it up but does anyone know offhand who did the score?

 

[Allen Hirsch]

John Tavener - British composer of one of the pieces done at Princess Di's funeral, IIRC. (The church choir I'm in has done one or two of his pieces over the years).

 

[Tim Glover]

Thanks Allen. A very effective score. BTW, we both joined the HTF in January 1999.

 

[Tim Glover]

Good review Haggai.

This is one of those really rare films where an extra 30-45 minutes would have benefitted the film. Not for more gloom but a few more questions answered. This could be done without dumbing down the story IMO.

Maybe we'll get a longer cut on DVD or HD? Regardless, it's still a great film.

 

[Chris]

I'm not so sure if that's the reveal Chuck is talking about. The reveal that got me for some reason was:

when it was revealed it was a girl. I found that just stunning how people reacted.

That moment was stunning for how much it hit me.. and there were a lot of reasons why, but for some reason, that was great stuff.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I fear this will end up being the most overlooked movie of the year come Oscar time. It deserves to be nominated for something other than technical awards.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Haggai had it right, but I meant the entire sequence.

From the moment people noticed the baby until they "got away" was simply primal.

I wasn't as keyed on the last payoff...that was Hollywood, and I'd been expecting that for an hour I didn't mind it, but it had been set up pretty extensively. Chris, my audience didn't even really notice that moment...but it was great nonetheless.

I do think it'll be looked over...sci-fi and action don't play well at Oscar time. At least Pan's can get some foreign film attention...in that one category.

 

[Haggai]

Heh, I guess you're right...all those exchanges about the various silly names she had been coming up with.

 

[Tim Glover]

That was a mighty poetic moment. Anyone else get a bit teary when Theo pleads to Marichka to get on the boat. That quick moment really got me.

 

[Jason_V]

I think you're hitting on one of the strengths of the film: it doesn't want to get into these topics any more than it has to in order to tell the story. Why the rebels are doing what they're doing...what the government is going to do with them...it doesn't really matter in the context of Kee and Theo.

We know whatever it is the government does is not good. Whether it be a concentration camp-type environment, cages or prison...I think it's much better to be left to our imaginations than to have it deliberately pointed out.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

A point of Cuarons in a recent interview is that human nature is human nature...political ideology of any variety is not a solution, merely an enabler. I don't think the film needs to go into what the rebels or "the man" are doing. They are pursuing their ideological beliefs in the face of the end of the human race. I appreciated that more nuanced look.