Directed by:
Alfonso CuarónCinematography:
Emmanuel LubezkiComposer:
John TavenerCast:
Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Danny Huston, Charlie Hunnam, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Pam Ferris, Peter Mullan, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Oana Pellea (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
It's the year 2027 and earth's youngest human being, at 18, has just died. Extinction seems a certainty, aided by the fact that wars are now waged continually between desperate nationalistic factions. Set against the backdrop of London, Clive Owen plays Theo, a former activist now bureaucrat informed of the discovery a lone pregnant woman - ostensibly earth's last hope. The challenge is to deliver her from harm to a place where her baby can be delivered safely. Understandably, there is more than one of the warring factions that would benefit from getting their hands on her. (Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
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Reviews (13)
This is no milestone in the history of cinema, for that Cuarón would have to be as good a screenwriter as he is a director, but it’s definitely a film that can only be recommended. At least 2 scenes – the carjacking and the wartime turmoil in the refugee zone – are worthy of inclusion in the proverbial "hall of fame" of memorable scenes; the only thing I missed while watching them was an involuntary "Holy shit!". Another thing worth praise is the interestingly portrayed atmosphere of the near future: bleak and troubled, free from exaggerated technological trappings, but with an emphasis on one of the expected future problems of Western civilization, which is already beginning to rear its ugly head (see this year's events in France), namely the problem of illegal immigrants and the related rise of xenophobia. Clive Owen is a very charismatic guy and a good actor, I'm rooting for his current status as a major leading man, just a shame that in his case it didn't come sooner.
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A riveting film with a pretty realistic portrayal of our near future. The world in 2027: misery, filth, people living in unsustainable social conditions; not that different from our present. If you multiply today’s problems in Europe, you will get something unpleasantly similar to Children of Men. This socio-political insight gives the film an uncompromising undertone, while the main storyline provides a sufficiently solid base for the viewer to consider it real and factually important. The camera for the most part is a couple of paces behind the protagonist and in several scenes it pulls you directly into the events taking place on screen, making you go through a brutal shoot-out, a bus full of hiding wretches and a semi-demolished building. Everything feels incredibly alive but depressive at the same time, and the glimmer of hope in the form of a baby by the end works the way it should.
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An absolute victory of form over content and story. Even though, in its almost metaphorical conception of a human society unable to reproduce, it can put a few bees in the viewer's bonnet, it's a pity that it doesn't develop the central idea that much, it doesn't provide a cohesive resolution, and instead serves as a blank canvas for the camera and editing. But oh, what camera and editing! The expression "raw" has never applied to any other film as much as it does to The Children of Men. The attack on the car, and especially Thea's journey through the battle tumult were resonating in me long after the closing credits started rolling, and I am afraid that some extraneous plagiarists, doomed in advance, will try to shoot a scene that's better or longer and will fatally fail. Definitely not the film of the year, but perfect for contemplation and amazement from a visual standpoint.
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In Children of Men I didn’t find a single groundbreaking, new, or significant thing that should be recorded for eternity in the history of cinema. Alfonso Cuarón is a fine director and presents us with a truly distinctive view of the future in a fast-paced film, full of clever moments and details. The story is presented in a very peculiar and unusual form, far from the grandiose meddling with futuristic gimmicks like Minority Report, but there’s nothing to lean on in terms of plot. The film's idea is clear and powerful, but the script does not allow it to fully develop. Emotionally, the film is relatively cold and, above all, extremely simple in terms of plot. Essentially, everything is clear from the beginning. There are occasional interesting ideas, but they don't change anything in essence. The car chase and the final battle for the city are thrilling, but we have seen similar things in Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down. The fact they occur in a wannabe existential sci-fi does not make it a revolutionary matter.
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If Children of Men didn’t have such a simple plot, there wouldn’t be anything to reproach it for. The plot wouldn’t even be a problem, but the end result is merely a patchwork of a bunch of incredibly intense scenes that don't seem particularly consistent as a whole. Even without the long takes, Children of Men would be worth seeing. However, the scenes are there, and they constitute the proverbial icing on the cake, which elevates Children to a clear "must see" affair that we haven’t been treated to in our movie theaters for a long time. And probably won't for a long time to come.
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