Children of Men

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Belinda

This is one of the best films ever. It could well be my favourite film. Big call, but there's isn't a thing about it that I don't like and it has pretty much all my favourite things in it as well. Alfonso Cuarón is a genius.

This post is just going to be one big gush so if that's all you need to know you can go and watch it now.

I haven't read the book and I understand it's pretty different to the film. I love the way the films works though, The story, the mission, the characters. Someone complained to me that they didn't like the film because it had no plot. it had NO PLOT. WHAT? It has a great plot. If you don't know it I don't want to give too much away, I think the trailer gives away too much as well. I took people to see it that didn't know *SPOILER* there would be a pregnant girl in it *END SPOILER* and watching their reactions as the film unfolded was priceless.

The amount of exposition they get out of just the production design and the whole world the film takes place in is staggering. So much information to be picked up in every corner of the frame. You can see the last 30 years of history just by looking at the newspapers and video screens and billboards, which saves just a very select few lines from the characters at the beginning to get across everything you need to know about the world situation, the warring factions against the government and the state humanity is in. It's a pretty grim and depressing world they've created, something I love. The apocalypse is just around the corner. And yet despite the situation going from bad to worse, for the film to leave you with such a feeling of hope and gratitude is astonishing and delightful.

It's a sci-fi film, but in such a real and understated way. They make the place feel so believable. And as always in the best sci-fi films, it's really just a great allegory. It's the story and characters that are the most important things.

Clive Owen is a great leading man playing a Theo, who's given up and is going through the motions who has to turn it all around and fight for the greater good. I find it so easy to invest in him and his situation. Michael Caine as his one friend Jasper is the other stand out for me. It's my favourite role from him. He's delightful as this pot growing hippie, and manages to hide the bulk of the exposition with some jokes and anecdotal stories. Julianne Moore is on screen just long enough to convey this tragic relationship with Theo and to set the main events in motion. And then along the way they are joined by some great characters. It's amazing how fleshed out all the main peripheral characters are, they aren't just good guys or bad guys.

On the technical side of things this film is also a wonder. Unlike other directors, when the situations get really intense instead of adding more edits and pumping up music, you find the exact opposite. The music in this film is used almost purely for pathos. And the 3 biggest moment of the film are done in ridiculously complicated single long takes where there seems to be no escape from the relentless unfolding of events. Some people notice it and some people don't. I think it subconsciously invests you more in the events, it's easier to accept if you can't perceive any way it could be faked. As a side effect of that I find them to be some of the most intense suspenseful action moments in a primarily dramatic film.

Alfonso Cuarón must have made some FX friend on his Harry Potter instalment (still probably my favourite) because what he manages to get them to pull off here for his budget is a small miracle (figuratively and literally). I love his documentary style camerawork that sells the world so well. It would have been a bitch to track all those shots to add in the computer screens and signage but it's beautiful stuff. And of course the create an entire digital character that's the crux of the whole film. It's pretty astonishing stuff. Always the FX are used for the best possible reasons, to help the story, to sell the world and to add to the realism instead of the fantastic.

I am in awe of this film. It never fails to get me incredibly emotionally involved. The first time I was it I was by myself at the cinema, bursting with wild emotions that needed venting to someone, anyone. I believe I went to a friends birthday party straight after and spent the entire night recruiting people to some see it with me the next morning just so I could discuss it with someone. Or just to see if they would react anywhere near as much as I did. How a single film can make me laugh then horrify me, keep me on the edge of my seat, completely gut me but leave me with with such hope is beyond my comprehension.

This movie is pure cinema. It is everything I love about films. I love this film.