I saw it 2 weeks ago, and it's been haunting me ever since. Children of Men is easily my favorite movie of 2006.
In fact, I can't think of much that elicited close to the same emotional response. V for Vendetta was good, but Children of Men is pretty much the same movie, done much better. The Prestige was great, but had some storytelling issues (the transition from historical thriller to steampunk left me unsatisfied, though David Bowie did his best to make it believable.) In fact, 2006 for me was defined more by movies I wanted to see, but didn't. I missed the Da Vinci Code, skipped Pirates of the Caribbean, I haven't even seen the new Bond despite raving to Evil Eye about the awesomeness of Daniel Craig. X-Men 3 was satisfying, A Scanner Darkly more haunting in the theater than in thinking about it afterwards. I haven't seen a single one of the Oscar crop this year, though the two Clint Eastwood movies look great. Oh, and The Good Shepherd is downright dull.
But Children of Men is fantastic. It takes a prompt that's been done by pretty much every TV scifi show from the Twilight Zone to Stargate, and just makes it... breathtaking. It doesn't even reinvent it. Ultraviolet was 1984 reimagined with vampires and Yakuza, and boy was it bad. Children of Men takes its premise and imagines every little detail. No gimmicks, no tricks, just a fully textured world.
The style left me, literally, breathless. When you watch it (and you'd better) take a look at how long the shots are. Alfonso Curaron (who directed Y Tu Mama Tambien) uses the handheld camera style that everyone hated in The Bourne Supremacy, but he does it right by cutting between cameras maybe once every three minutes. The result is a world that just feels real. Also, this is the closest I've seen to a "First Person" movie. The action never, ever pans away from Clive Owen, which forces some interesting tricks and creates some nervewracking scenarios.
Usually I'm more angry when a movie is this heavy-handed. The premise is a world where humanity suddenly and quickly goes infertile. Women are no longer able to have babies, and the result is a civilization plunging into anarchy. My favorite illustration of the angst is some wall graffiti that says, "LAST ONE TO LEAVE, PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHTS." Britain is the last surviving society, according to its propaganda and [blatant political commentary]brutally rounds up all illegal immigrants and puts them into detainment camps, declaring them terrorists[/blatant political commentary].
More heavy-handedness ensues from big neon parallels to Jesus. They're all over the place, and if you don't feel like picking up on the symbolism of discovering that she's pregnant in a barn, then perhaps you'll prefer the fact that Clive Owen shouts "JESUS CHRIST" when he sees her. Heck, even the title is a Biblical reference.
My favorite, though, is when one of the characters leaves the room chanting "Shantih, Shantih, Shantih," without every explaining himself. Heavy-handed and understated at the same time. I love it.
Basically, Children of Men is the most subtly shot heavy-handed movie I've ever seen.
Go see it.
In fact, I can't think of much that elicited close to the same emotional response. V for Vendetta was good, but Children of Men is pretty much the same movie, done much better. The Prestige was great, but had some storytelling issues (the transition from historical thriller to steampunk left me unsatisfied, though David Bowie did his best to make it believable.) In fact, 2006 for me was defined more by movies I wanted to see, but didn't. I missed the Da Vinci Code, skipped Pirates of the Caribbean, I haven't even seen the new Bond despite raving to Evil Eye about the awesomeness of Daniel Craig. X-Men 3 was satisfying, A Scanner Darkly more haunting in the theater than in thinking about it afterwards. I haven't seen a single one of the Oscar crop this year, though the two Clint Eastwood movies look great. Oh, and The Good Shepherd is downright dull.
But Children of Men is fantastic. It takes a prompt that's been done by pretty much every TV scifi show from the Twilight Zone to Stargate, and just makes it... breathtaking. It doesn't even reinvent it. Ultraviolet was 1984 reimagined with vampires and Yakuza, and boy was it bad. Children of Men takes its premise and imagines every little detail. No gimmicks, no tricks, just a fully textured world.
The style left me, literally, breathless. When you watch it (and you'd better) take a look at how long the shots are. Alfonso Curaron (who directed Y Tu Mama Tambien) uses the handheld camera style that everyone hated in The Bourne Supremacy, but he does it right by cutting between cameras maybe once every three minutes. The result is a world that just feels real. Also, this is the closest I've seen to a "First Person" movie. The action never, ever pans away from Clive Owen, which forces some interesting tricks and creates some nervewracking scenarios.
Usually I'm more angry when a movie is this heavy-handed. The premise is a world where humanity suddenly and quickly goes infertile. Women are no longer able to have babies, and the result is a civilization plunging into anarchy. My favorite illustration of the angst is some wall graffiti that says, "LAST ONE TO LEAVE, PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHTS." Britain is the last surviving society, according to its propaganda and [blatant political commentary]brutally rounds up all illegal immigrants and puts them into detainment camps, declaring them terrorists[/blatant political commentary].
More heavy-handedness ensues from big neon parallels to Jesus. They're all over the place, and if you don't feel like picking up on the symbolism of discovering that she's pregnant in a barn, then perhaps you'll prefer the fact that Clive Owen shouts "JESUS CHRIST" when he sees her. Heck, even the title is a Biblical reference.
My favorite, though, is when one of the characters leaves the room chanting "Shantih, Shantih, Shantih," without every explaining himself. Heavy-handed and understated at the same time. I love it.
Basically, Children of Men is the most subtly shot heavy-handed movie I've ever seen.
Go see it.
