I know I’m late, but I only get to watch Children of Men yesterday night. I had to say, I was thankful i didn’t watch it in front of others. My jaws were hanging 3/4 of the movie. I was awed! If Nell has her 300 to drool to…I have my Children of Men.
It’s a story set in 2027, where ALL women were impotent and human race are doomed, for there’s no means of reproduction. It has caused such suffering and psychological trauma, that even the government are advocating suicide. This can also be seen by the news, focusing on the death of the youngest man on earth, although there are bigger issues social issues elsewhere.
We follow Theo (Clive Owen), in his living through the what ever time humanity have left, losing hope himself, or so it seems to me. Living in Britain, the only place on earth yet to crumble (including Malaysia!), He finds escape in the outskirts with his old pal, Jasper (a hippie Michael Caine).
After accepting an offer from his ex-wife, Julian (Julianne Moore), he set on a journey to send a refugee hiding with a militant group called the Fish to send a girl to be with a group called The Human Project.
What’s so special about this girl you ask? It’s just that she’s pregnant, the first after 18 years.
What made the film so superb, was to me, the camera works. There’s a lot of long camera works, that I love so much, ever since the Stereophonics’ Closing Time music video. It reminds me of the Half Life 2 game, so for those who love HL2, COD, Battlefield, and cinema-quality games, you’ll definitely appreciate this.
Imagine having a scene where a baby is born, from the pushing, to actually delivering a baby…I don’t know how they do that…seriously
The year’s 2027, so of course things are a little different from now, right? New technology is shown, but with such subtleness that we can actually see our future it that fashion. Weird cars that look like the Smart line of cars, a little modification on the existing vehicles, like the Double Decker buses, and many more. We actually accept the technology shown, rather than they shoving it down our throat.
Acting wise, I would say Michael Caine did a superb job. The worst may be Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey) saying “wicked!”, but after seeing them in a 5 mins (or more) long shot, I would say that they did a very good job after all.
I can’t say more…am lost of words. Kudos to Alfonso Cuarón for directing such a great movie, and Emmanuel Lubezki for giving me a movie that is both beautiful and scary to watch.
Comments
8 responses to “Children Of Men”
My we-share-all-the-same-favorite-movies-except-she-thinks-300-is-a-dud-so-im-disowning-her cousin said, and I quote, a good movie is looking at the big picture and being impressed. Hard-to-achieve great CGIs and animations doesnt make up for weak plots and bad acting.
She thinks I’m easily impressed by super duper advance hijinks machine effects (her words, not mine).
I said its hard for me to look/watch a movie without thinking the mechanics and technicalities involved with creating a scene. You appreciate the overall impression more when you acknowledge the little springs working behind it.
She said that kind of thinking hampers, rather than help, judgement in objectively deciding whether its a good movie or otherwise.
I said, I grew out of evaluating a movie based on the actings, the lines and the endings. You should grow up too. AND 300 DOESNT SUCK!!
She said, it does too. It sucks lemons.
At which point I started stabbing her in the chest with a toothbrush. She died 20 minutes later when I reached into the bleeding hole on her chest and ripped out her heartstrings. I buried her in a shallow unmarked grave, a gesture befitting her action of daring to disparage the work of art that is 300.
Why a toothbrush? Because it hurts more.
Lamb : u still use that toothbrush? if u do, then that’s sick…i suggest u use a squeeze toothpaste into the wound beforehand…so it would be a cleand death…no cavities…
if ur into technicalities, try watching this movie, and guess how many takes they need for the long shots….
Spoiler (fot those yg belum tengok)
look at the scene masa Julianne Moore kena tembak. It was a very longgg shot without cut. Try figure out how he did that.
muteaudio : tu la pasal…gila babas la director dia nak wat scene panjang2 camtu….siyes aku rasa macam dlm game, mcm aku ada dlm scene tu…pasal takde cut2…
Yup, agreed. Children of Men is a great movie. Love the first-person camera view. Unlike Doom fast action video game like near-ending shots, this movie shows a slightly theatrical look. Really makes u feel like you’re in the middle of the action with the actors, especially the car runaway scenes as mentioned by muteaudio before. Lizzam, i thank you for giving me the opportunity to see this movie… you know what. Next time you wanna burn me some movie, try to get a movie of this genre for me, oh and try to find Paradise Now too… cant seem to find it. Thanks. 🙂
Paradise Now will be shown at the Holland Film Festival, 26th April – 2nd May at GSC Mid Valley.
The show was too slow for me..
kaz : ko cari la torrent dia..aku try cari…takpun kita reramai gi gsc mv…
muteaudio : thanks bro…
freethinker : myabe it’s just not your thing…