Children of Men - Discussion thread (1 Viewer)

[JediFonger]

for people who are big SF nuts and enjoy the vast # of books, TV series and so on, the futuristic dystopia is nothing new. aldiss, philip dick and so on have done it to death. it's one of those "there are only 7 stories in the world" comments. what IS original isn't so much the story itself but HOW it is told. there's no exact formula to it, but the way cuaron framed/shot/carried the story was what made this film wholly original.

a few interesting points:
- the value of human life ceases to exist. chaos ensues.
- re: illegal immigrant, i think there definitely was a strong message from cuaron about America's treatment of illegal immigrants (many of whom are Mexicans) but since we can't talk about politics, we should refrain =D. i know it's Brit vs. foreigners IN THE MOVIE, but the message if very clear.
- if you've played half-life and half-life2, you've experienced this sort of 'world' but virtually and with equally as much texture. if HL was ever a movie, i imagine this CoM would be how it would look and hopefully feel.
- lucas said in an interview for his film thx 1138 that lots of foreign films don't do exposition and that's the sensibility he works with in star wars, indy and his other films. the world should just be "as is", not explained because explaining it would insult the audience's intelligence. similar how the HL games revealed story/plotpoints through the background, the film does the same with atmosphere/environment. if you rewatch this several times, i believe you can really 'capture' the entire movie.
- and related to the above points, i REALLY dug the names&phrases. Ship of "Tomorrow", Shanti, Shanti, Shanit (which means peace, peace, peace), there's just so many layers to this.

 

[rich_d]

Well said.

I also enjoyed the scene with the baby coming out of the building under attack. Like others, the thing I really enjoyed was how quickly the battle resumed. I think it speaks volumes.

I also noticed the craftmanship around the sound design. I was in a theatre with excellent speakers and the experience was immersive.

 

[Sam Favate]

Saw this last night and I think it is one of the best films of the year. It reminded me of V For Vendetta in many ways, and that's a good thing. I thought - like with V - that the song over the end credits was very powerful. (It's "Bring On The Lucie (Freda People)" by John Lennon: http://www.bagism.com/lyrics/mind-ga...cieFredaPeople)

It was really bleak and unrelenting, but I found its struggle for hope to be extremely effective.

 

[Brett_M]

I saw this last night and all I can say is I was shocked, saddened, and fearful during its running time. I haven't seen a movie this well done in a long time. It hit every note I'd hope ,... and more. The level of detail was absolutely amazing. I was too shocked to get choked up and that's a rarity for me (I cry at the drop of a hat when I watch movies). The film was brutal and sucked me in from the first frame.

As I read the previous 3 pages of posts, I realized how much there was to see and feel in this film. The brief cease fire and procession was an awesome sequence in the film. What about the scene when Julian was killed? I was riveted. The marauders, the immersive sound, the fantastic camera work. Actually, the camera work throughout was the stuff of legend -- hand held, you are there, blood-spattered, long take filmmaking. I was stunned.

At the end, when it cut to black -- title card. One person said "That's it?" I think he meant "what a let down" or something to that effect. I wanted more. I lived for 109 minutes in that world and brutal as it was, I liked being there. It was so well realized. Painstaking set design and decoration. Many have mentioned the amount of detail in each frame -- newspaper headlines, graffiti, billboards, plasma screens, quality footwear, animals, pets, etc. Something that jumped out at me were all the little trinkets of a happier bygone era displayed everywhere, such as little toys and figurines on window sills or the edges of office cubicles. Photographs, one on top of the other, on every wall or window. I probably missed more but that world felt lived in. I also enjoyed the sequence in the abandoned school. I'm a teacher myself. I saw all the little desks, chairs, children's art work and a sense of real dread hit me. Enter Sid and it only went down (or up, as it were) from there.

From first to last, CoM was one of the best films I saw this year. Above all else, it made me realize how lucky I am and how much I love my wife and two children. And I have hope for the future.

 

[AlexF]

I also saw this film last night. It's been open here in Toronto for a week already at one particular theatre (the one I saw it at), but the theatre was still full (maybe 20 seats empty all told), and there was a huge lineup for the following showing.

Anyhow, I wanted to address Brett_M's point... I felt like saying "That's it?" when the title card came up at the end. In total silence I might add. Part of that reason was because the time just _flew_ by. It seemed like I'd barely been watching the movie for more than half an hour, and suddenly... there was no more. The story and presentation completely engaged me, and as they say, when you are enjoying something a lot, the time seems to pass far quicker than it should.

 

[Brett_M]

I agree. I looked at my watch a couple of times but not out of boredom. I wanted to see how much longer the film had to go. I went to a 7:20 showing and when I glanced at my watch the first time, it was 8:42. I was shocked.

 

[JediFonger]

i wonder how this bodes for cuaron's career? i imagine his agent's phone is ringing off the h00k from A-listers wanting to work with him!

 

[Tim Glover]

Cuaron is really talented. Just look at the diverse films so far, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Harry Potter & The Prizoner of Azkaban, and now Children Of Men.

Plus he's a Producer for Pan's Labrynth. Amazing future...

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

My guess is that he used his leverage from Prisoner of Azkaban to get this picture made in the first place.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

The cause of world wide infertility is secondary. The reaction of mankind is what is of interest in such a scenario and in that regards the movie delivers in spades.

 

[JediFonger]

let us not forget all of his OTHER works:
http://imdb.com/name/nm0190859/

 

[Henry Gale]

Haven't forgotten, I've been a fan of this director ever since "A Little Princess" (1995).

 

[Claire Panke]

Cuaron has been working on this project for 6-7 years. He was actually approached by the producers of CoM before Harry Potter. Cuaron started working on the script and casting after Y Tu Mama Tambien was completed and CoM was intended to be his next film.

Things didn't work out with the studio so CoM was shelved and Cuaron was free to take on PoA.

I'm sure Cuaron's success with PoA didn't hurt when the production team was resurrecting CoM. Cuaron turned down the next two HPs to make it.

He's been one of my favorite directors ever since A Little Princess. Y Tu Mama Tambien and Prisoner of Azkaban sealed the deal. I think CoM launches him into the front rank of directors.

 

[JediFonger]

in my local paper there's an interview with 3 mexican directors. it was del toro, cuaron and there's another one, all 3of them have become either critically or financially successful.

 

[Richard Kim]

Just came back from watching Children of Men. Wow, what a harrowing, heart wrenching experience. I'd have to say this is the best film of 2006. As mentioned earlier, it's similar to V for Vendetta, but much more realistic. Kudos to Cuaron and his documentary filmmaking style to make this distopic future seem extremely plausible (and frightening).


That was the turning point for me in the film. To have a major star actor like Moore killed off in the middle of the film was shocking to say the least, and ratcheted up the tension that lasted throughout the rest of the film.

 

[Sam Favate]

I'd hardly say it was the middle of the film. I felt like the film had just started when Moore's character was killed off.

 

[IanDP]

Amazing movie. I loved it.

Anybody notice Clive Owen's acting? Just fantastic. What a talent. Very real reactions to what's going on around him. I loved how the character kept trying to hide his real feelings, even though we kept learning how distraught he really was.

The only thing that bugged me about the film was the scene when the soldiers stopped fighting to let the baby pass. Why didn't anyone think to say "Hey, this child is the future of the species. Maybe we should call our superior officer to escort the child to safety." And then they also proceeded with the air raid destroying the city, even though they knew the baby was lost in the city somewhere. Were they so consumed with their fighting that they were just going let the human race become extinct?
We knew that the government would want to take the child if they knew it existed, yet the soldiers didn't think to tell anybody. That's a minor thing and I know I'm reading too much into it. That's not why we go to the movies. There has to be some suspension of disbelief.

 

[Steve Y]

I thought that scene was so gut-wrenching especially because it was so realistic... maybe my view of humanity is too bleak? That whole scene - the "reprieve" AS WELL as the return to fighting - seemed to encapsulate the current state of our humanity, our understanding of what's important (uplifting) as well as our wrenching ability to let our immediate goals cloud even the most wondrous or "obvious" ideals.

 

[Jefferson Morris]

I did, and I agree that he was great. His brief breakdown in the forest was particularly affecting.

I also found it slightly odd that the soldiers wouldn't have attempted to stop Theo and Kee or take them into custody. But it can still be justified, in that the baby was such an astonishing sight that they were simply dumbstruck, plus they were in the middle of a life-or-death battle that otherwise required all their attention. I liked the quick return to the brutality of combat, which further justified Theo and Kee being left alone, and cut short what could have become a treacly moment if it had gone on too long.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Norm]

Would there really be an immigration problem when half the worlds people are dead? The only way there would be if there wasn't enough food & water. Numbers in that case would cause you to enforce measures to keep people out. Otherwise the last Gov't system left, the UK in the movie would collapse. I think this movie would have made better sense if it was an overpopulation problem rather than the reverse.