"Wow. I was sincerely blown away by this movie - absolutely riveting and brilliant throughout."
"I can't really remember when I last had any hope, and I certainly can't remember when anyone else did either. Because really, since women stopped being able to have babies, what's left to hope for?"
Children of Men.
Wow. I was sincerely blown away by this movie - absolutely riveting and brilliant throughout. Alfonso Cuarón, director of Great Expectations and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, brings us a stunning film adaptation of an English dysotopian novel by PD James.
This absorbing thriller paints a vision of a world in which, for unspecified reasons, all the women on Earth have become unfertile and no babies have been born for the last 18 years. It is 2027, the world has collapsed, only Great Britain soldiers on - creating heavily armed borders under a dictatorship to keep out refugees and immigrans. In a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, activist turned journalist Theo Faron (Clive Owen) agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman named Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey) to a sanctuary at sea (The Human Project, as it's known), where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.
Children of Men stars Michael Caine as Theo's old friend Jasper Palmer, an aging hippie and former political cartoonist that lives in seclusion with his disabled wife. Julianne Moore stars plays Theo's ex-wife Julian who is a political extremist and responsible for turning Theo into an enemy of the state.
I don't know where to start - this film is amazing, truly. The story is all there: a sleek, clever thriller with just the right amount of character building and tense action. The performances from Owen and company are top notch and though Owen only seems capable of playing the same character in every film, he does it good and with style. He's seen in this film in trench coat, cigar hanging ready from his lip - a bad attitude engulfing him.
Cinematically speaking the camera work is mind-boggling at times. There's a steady cam shot that just keeps going and going, I found my mind screaming "How did they do that in one take!?" My mind had no reply. This is truly art, breathtaking and wonderful in every manner of the word. The imagery is bleak and hopeless, devastatingly brutal at times. It seems this film is more aimed at our society today than 20 years from now. It reminds me of a mix between V for Vendetta and Schindler's List (yeah, try to wrap your brain around that one). All I can really say is go see it for yourself.
This is exactly the kind of film that delivers on every level - there is drama, sincere emotion, devastatingly realistic action sequences, humor and an atmosphere that can't be replicated. An amazing job to the cast and Cuarón for making such a fine piece of art.
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