It's 2027 and women can't have children anymore, the world is gray and hopeless (isn't it always in a dytopia), and anyone who seem foreign is seen as a threat and kept in camps. Ok, so far this sounds like your usual not-to-distant-future cautionary sci-fi flick. What sets Children of Men apart is it's bravura style of presenting the story. We spend the entire film following Theo Faron (played by Clive Owen) as he is begrudgingly drawn into a plot to help the only pregnant woman in the world escape from England.
The plot is pretty much that simple, even though there are elements of post 911 terrorism paranoia. The strength of this movie is that it doesn't spend alot of time "telling and preaching." It sticks firmly with the human story of Theo as he slowly rediscovers his humanity amid all of the chaos and duplicity. Even more impressive, is the way that so much information is packed into the edges and background of each frame.
If any movie exemplified "show don't tell," this is it. On top of the impressively subtle story-telling technique, Children of Men also offers at least two stunning action set-pieces. Both are fairly famous for seeming to be continuous one-shots (they aren't actually). For anyone who loves thought-provoking action/sci fi, this is a wonderful flick.
the following clip is from the end of the movie so don't watch if you don't want spoilers...
1 comment:
This movie made my top 10 of 2006. Great vision from director Alphonso Cuaron. Great camera work and lensing by Emmanuel Lubezki, who was Oscar nominated for this film and just shot the next Coen brothers Burn After Reading, that will be out next week.
Very entertaining movie.
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