Welcome to the new year, folks, and welcome to Alfonso Cuaron's superb "Children of Men," which is one of 2006's best.
Children of Men (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:199
Fresh:183
Rotten:16
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: Children of Men works on every level: as a violent chase thriller, a fantastical cautionary tale, and a sophisticated human drama about societies struggling to live. This taut and thought-provoking tale may not have the showy special effects normally found in movies of this genre, but you won't care one bit after the story kicks in, about a dystopic future where women can no longer conceive and hope lies within one woman who holds the key to humanity's survival. It will have you riveted.
Theatrical Release:22-09-2006
Synopsis: CHILDREN OF MEN is not a popcorn movie. With its almost relentlessly bleak perspective on the future, Alfonso Cuarón's film doesn't make for pleasant viewing. But it's an exhilarating experience... CHILDREN OF MEN is not a popcorn movie. With its almost relentlessly bleak perspective on the future, Alfonso Cuarón's film doesn't make for pleasant viewing. But it's an exhilarating experience because the picture is an amazing dystopian drama that lacks all the typical trappings of the genre. Set uncomfortably close to the present, it paints a frighteningly realistic picture of the future. In 2027, every woman on earth is infertile. With the loss of the ability to have children, the world has also lost hope. Clive Owen (CLOSER) plays Theo, an Englishman attempting to make a life in a hellish world. His estranged wife (Julianne Moore) convinces him to help transport a young woman to safety. When Theo learns that the woman is pregnant, their journey takes on a significance--and a danger--he never imagined. This is Cuarón's best film to date, a strong statement considering his wonderful HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN and Y TU MAMA TAMBIÉN. Filmed using a handheld camera, the action draws the audience close, making the horror that much more real. In addition to its remarkable car-chase scenes, the film features impressive acting. With his expressive face and voice, Owen gives a nuanced performance that ranks with the best of his career. As a reclusive hippie, Michael Caine shares a charming counterculture view of the crumbling world. Chiwetel Ejiofor (DIRTY PRETTY THINGS) brings gravitas to the role of a terrorist. Just when the film threatens to overwhelm with its sense of dread, small moments of comedy show through in Owen's wry sense of humor and Caine's perfect delivery. When the credits roll, CHILDREN OF MEN leaves the audience feeling shell-shocked, not only because of its brutal prophecy, but also because of its brilliance. [More]
Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chjwetel Ejiofor
Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chjwetel Ejiofor, Peter Mullan, Charlie Hunnam, Pam Ferris, Danny Huston, Jacek Koman
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Screenwriter: Timothy J. Sexton, Alfonso Cuaron
Producer: Hilary Shor, Marc Abraham, Tony Smith, Eric Newman, Iain Smith
Composer: John Tavener
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Children of Men
This is a film that had a great deal potential, but got too involved in its action scenes.
Cuaron and company do a splendid job of putting the viewer smack dab in the center of the action.
As much as it is invigorating visually and moving emotionally, the film does turn at last on this familiar device, the damaged white man in need of spiritual and ideological fixing.
Children of Men so thoroughly captivates visually that one can forgive the film's tendency to explain itself only vaguely.
Children of Men has been brilliantly adapted from a sci-fi novel by P.D. James and offers echoes of other literate, futuristic satires.
Cuaron is known as a humanist/pictorialist (The Little Princess, Y Tu Mama Tambien), but he does exceedingly well here with action and violence, turning rudimentary car-chases into something that feels alive and reinvented.
A superior sci-fi thriller and the best doomsday drama since 28 Days Later.
Director Alfonso Cuaron has exactingly deployed his craft in a depressingly single-minded fashion to create a single-mindedly depressing work of art.
Despite the bleakness of its vision, Children of Men is also thrilling, both for its groundbreaking style (there are action sequences here unlike any filmed before) and its complex, vividly realized ideas.
Cuarón does lowdown takes on high concept better than anyone; no matter what genre he touches, he brings grit and loose-limbed humor along with the hand-held camera jangles.
Darkly poetic throughout, the film starts with an explosion and ends drifting in fog with no clear resolution in sight. How brave and oddly satisfying.
Children of Men is a chillingly effective cautionary fable that provides provocative social commentary, but it also works as a compassionate character drama.
You can see it now or wait 20 years until the movie has found a niche among equally visionary movies that have the capacity to compel, alarm and shake things up.
Based on a novel by British mystery writer P.D. James, Children of Men is a filmmaking feat. In the midst of mayhem, director Alfonso Cuaron delivers subtle and jarring images, while exploring complex emotional rhythms.
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