'Children of Men', the new Alfonso Cuaron sci-fi flick

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Would've liked to spend a little more time in London 2027 before going to the country/Kosovo(Bexhill).

Thought the cars were absolutely spot-on. Twenty years from now there'll be the same Renault Megane, Suzuki Swift and a fucking Toyota Corolla, but with rubber crap and sensors and the front and useless little warnings telling you an "impact" is imminent that flash up on the windscreen.

― S- (sgh), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 04:18 (nineteen years ago)

and Danny Huston will still have a bitching Jag.

― milo z (mlp), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 04:21 (nineteen years ago)

i just saw it tonight and can't wait to see it again; to me it felt like an action version of an octavia butler novel or something. i also LOVE dystopic/ apocalytpic films, even bad ones, so i'm just really happy when one comes out and it's like pretty subtle (i.e. any other filmmaker would have focused on the drunken owen pouring his bottle into his hands to sterilize them like ten times more, made it obv. that this was a big choice for him).

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0206634/D001_00234.jpg

arguments upthread about the religious symbolism seem bunk for the most part, though the more i chew on it the more they might be true, at least a *little* bit (this isn't frickin 'stephen king's the stand' by any means which i watched on sci-fi channel last night thinking it was a bio-disaster film until i realized it was basically a 'left behind' movie) when i read on imdb where the title comes from:

"Lord, thou hast been our refuge: from one generation to another. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made: thou art God from everlasting, and world without end. Thou turnest man to destruction: again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday: Seeing that is past as a watch in the night."

speaking of dystopic-apocalypto films, has anyone read this book? i really want to check it out -- hopefully a library near me has it -- a bit out of my range just now:
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Apocalyptic-Cinema-Charles-Mitchell/dp/0313315272

― Michael J McGonigal (mike mcgonigal), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 05:29 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks for posting that still. I felt really cool when I noticed the "unforgetable Moore" newspaper the first time I watched the movie (I'm pretty sure that marks a transformation in film viewing for me...y'know, paying attention to little details like that)

― Tape Store (Tape Store), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 05:42 (nineteen years ago)

ohh sure -- notice how there's a headline about a test tube baby not surviving on one page, and on another it looks like an atomic explosion, i think?

can't see these as clearly but one of the things i really look forward to in re-watchin it is absorbing the details better:

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0206634/00189.jpg_rgb.jpg

― Michael J McGonigal (mike mcgonigal), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 05:46 (nineteen years ago)

I've got this book
http://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Movies-End-World-Cinema/dp/0312253699/

It's certainly worth the Amazon used book price.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 05:53 (nineteen years ago)

One of those small-ish (seeming) details I had forgotten all about - the close-to-teen/young-adult playing the game at the dinner table - the privilege of youth, the alienation of child vs parent amplified 1,000x because there is no youth culture for the young'un, and the only world to escape from the parent to is one of gaming. Made me feel very strange about my life-long relationship with Tetris and gaming in general.

― stoked for the madness (nickalicious), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 06:20 (nineteen years ago)

I thought that kid was just mentally damaged. TAKE YOUR PILLS, JUNIOR

― milo z (mlp), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 06:33 (nineteen years ago)

Sigur Ros makes me want to drill my brain out.
If I have no anchor points in a song it starts to do random infinite loops in my head. The singer's lack of...words makes that impossible, and while I like droning music, again, no anchor points...

That has made me less excited to see a movie that I was looking forward too.

― Seven Years as a Bird in the Wood (The GZeus), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 06:40 (nineteen years ago)

Wonderful movie. But I don't look forward to having my brother ramble on about it for hours on end.

And damm it now I want to go and listen to Itchy Woooooooo all afternoon.

― Rufus 3000 (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

Occurs to me that in making the pregnant woman & baby (Dylan, eventually) unique on earth and thus the hope for all of humanity, the film forces us to look at the world through a parent's eyes. It's basically a movie about having kids in a horribly inhospitable world.

this is a good point. I had a child six months ago and that's partly why this movie was so affecting to me, absolutely. Also, the birth scene in this is terrifyingly realistic and I can't figure out how they did it. cgi?

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

i'm not sure that Sigur Ros track is actually in the film, just the trailer.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:19 (nineteen years ago)

i didn't notice it

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

jesus christ 2/3rds of this entire movie was feeling like you were about to get shot in the face

I AM ABOUT TO TYPE A SPOILER RIGHT NOW ALERT MESSAGE!!!!!

so what's the deal, they get the girl's baby to safety, so "the plan" for redeveloping the population then is to bottleneck the entire human species through it? wouldn't that ultimately mung-ify us all? better than nothing, is that what we're supposed to accept?

― ath (ath), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

I think it was implied that "Tomorrow" had something to do with the Human Project or whatever and that maybe with the baby & the mother they could possibly develop a cure for the infertility.

― stoked for the madness (nickalicious), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe it would be more apt to say "I feel that it implied".

― stoked for the madness (nickalicious), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

the film starts with the hysteria surrounding the death of the worlds youngest man, the "plan"/"human project" just makes sense from that point. it's totally believable even if it's unfeasible in a larger sense.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

"Tomorrow" (cripes) ...implied, OR bludgeoned over the head

You know who was great? Peter Mullan as Syd, the Bexhill guard.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:32 (nineteen years ago)

I AM ABOUT TO TYPE A SPOILER RIGHT NOW ALERT MESSAGE!!!!!

We know nothing about "the plan" other than, you know, the first child in 18 years has been born and maybe that would be a good place to poke around for a solution. Anything beyond that is stuff you're making up in your own mind.

I think it speaks well for Children of Men that nearly every major criticism I've read is due to either misunderstanding or imposing unnecessary conditions from the outside.

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:33 (nineteen years ago)

what about the criticism that every second spent watching the film is one where you're grimacing in fear that you're about to be shot in the fucking face with a gun any second

― ath (ath), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

I thought that was praise!

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

wink.gif

― ath (ath), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:38 (nineteen years ago)

You know who was great? Peter Mullan as Syd, the Bexhill guard.

Totally didn't notice that that was Peter Mullan, which increases my regard for him.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 20:40 (nineteen years ago)

What makes his performance all the more convincing is that even until his last scene you're not exactly sure what side is on.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

I really don't get the tendency of asking questions about every film plot as if it were neorealism and you're an attorney. As long as it doesn't violate its internal logic ... Is this the fallout of those roleplaying games?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:09 (nineteen years ago)

So is this ILE's most admired film of 2006? Seems like it.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:13 (nineteen years ago)

(pls God, no more polls)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:15 (nineteen years ago)

What I really liked about this film and one of the reasons I'll most definitely be seeing it again, was that, since it didn't make everything super explicit, I felt constantly engaged with the movie, trying to make sense of the clues that were scattered throughout it and not just some passive viewer.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

Syd was great even though I was too dense to realize he was talking in the 3rd person about himself until after the baby was born.

― jambalaya backgammon (grady), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:19 (nineteen years ago)

since it didn't make everything super explicit, I felt constantly engaged

Yeah, it was the oposite of this.

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

It's worth noting that we don't even know that this is the first child in 18 years... it's never made clear exactly what the human project is, and I sort of thought that there might be more than just one mother and baby.

― max (maxreax), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:30 (nineteen years ago)

I think Children of Men makes it pretty clear that, in the film's present, "Baby Diego" is/was the last human known to have been born on earth, and he was born a little over 18 years ago.

― Adam Beales (Pye Poudre), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:38 (nineteen years ago)

heh. I read Adam's line as "Baby Dago."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:43 (nineteen years ago)

Either way. We get all kinds in here.

― Adam Beales (Pye Poudre), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 21:45 (nineteen years ago)

That's what I meant; clearly Diego was the last baby known--but it also seems pretty clear that most world infrastructure has collapsed, and there's no reason to believe that lil' Dylan is the only baby in the entire world.

― max (maxreax), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

well it depends what the cause of infertility is, doesn't it (something the filmmakers aren't interested in).

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:19 (nineteen years ago)

i was half expecting nicka's new sn to be "Baby Diego."

― jambalaya backgammon (grady), Tuesday, 9 January 2007 22:29 (nineteen years ago)

you know it had to be good when no one on ilx has griped about the radiohead usage.

cat clawing onto clive owen's leg = AWESOMENESS

― Jimmy_tango (Jimmy_tango), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 01:03 (nineteen years ago)

Best shot in the movie.

If there's one thing I'd criticize about this otherwise wonderful movie, it's that the kitten was criminally underutilized.

― Adam Beales (Pye Poudre), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 01:05 (nineteen years ago)

haha grady, I was actually thinking of using "strawberry cough"

― stoked for the madness (nickalicious), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 01:27 (nineteen years ago)

Ha, it never even occured to me that there could very well be other babies about that have slipped under the radar. It's a great idea.

p.s., the sci-fi parody linked to by Fluffy Bear etc upthread really is very funny.

― chap (chap), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 02:06 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, i mean, it seems silly to have a "human project" just sort of sitting in the azores jerking each other off. i sort of felt like there might be another baby, or maybe not, but the movie emphasized the disconnect and lack of knowledge that made me believe that there might, just might, be other babies

― max (maxreax), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 03:42 (nineteen years ago)

i don't remember radiohead being used at all either

― kyle (akmonday), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 04:21 (nineteen years ago)

I remember Radiohead, but not precisely which section. Maybe it was on when Michael Caine and the hippie midwife were getting high?

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 04:25 (nineteen years ago)

i think it's the "2003" music on the radio.
Don't have the patience to read through this thread, but MY what a very very very good film that was.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 04:29 (nineteen years ago)

it was life in a glass house i think?

when they were smoking w33d the first time and telling jokes about scientists munching stork.

― jambalaya backgammon (grady), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 04:34 (nineteen years ago)

on second viewing, when clive/theo is on the train on the very beginning, and people start throwing stuff at the train--doesn't it seem like all those ruffians are under 18? i'm just sayin.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 05:03 (nineteen years ago)

is the cut between the woman carrying her arm out of the bombed coffee shop to the title credits cribbed from another movie? It (and the sound effect) seemed very familiar.

― milo z (mlp), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 05:04 (nineteen years ago)

Michael M, Yeah...Kazakhstan was 'annihilated' (atomic bomb).

― Tape Store (Tape Store), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 05:13 (nineteen years ago)

life in a glasshouse was on right before michael caine puts on the "zen music" noise blast

― dmr (Renard), Wednesday, 10 January 2007 06:18 (nineteen years ago)

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