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

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yeah a light might have been better--although wouldn't that be even more baldly symbolic?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

It's a fable; seeing the ship as anything but the best chance at salvation just means, well, you read the news. (ie, I said "well, that'll be a voyage of the damned")

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

also i like that you don't know nothing about the human project. they could be good, they could just as likely be bad (i like how owen warns her to keep the child close)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

and it's pretty clear that owen dies. when the hero of a movie is bleeding like crazy in the last scene, having just redeemed himself, and nods off with a little smile... that is a death scene.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

You really wouldn't even have to be taking it as an allegory to current events though--I mean, you just had to watch the movie to be even vaguely mistrustful of whoever is on the boat, or at the other end of that boat ride. (ie what slocki just said too I suppose!! xpost and also LOL @ "that is a death scene")

― AllyzayEisenschefterBDawkinsFlyingSquirrelRomoCrying.jpg (allyzay), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

Is it the fact that the ending is open-ended that bothers you? Or is it the fact that they go to the Human Project without any real intel?

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

it always bothers me when a movie ends without the characters having properly gathered intel.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:22 (nineteen years ago)

It's just too determined. The feeling when the ship arrives, the way it's shot, the music - it's comforting. That it ends so abruptly takes a little of the restful pleasure away from it, but it's a dénoument all the same. I had forgotten that he says to keep the baby close. Maybe a couple more reminders like that, or more pot-fuelled arguments over whether the Human Project were good guys or bad guys and I would have liked the ending as-is.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

Basically I saw no reason to believe that Gene Hackman was on that boat so I'm pretty sure this movie sucked.

― TOMB07 (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

Here's what hapens on the deck of the Tomorrow

http://www.cswu.cz/music/characters/medals.jpg

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

actually it was

http://www.phillyist.com/attachments/philly_nicole/mission-accomplished.jpg

― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:35 (nineteen years ago)

Euai:

Didn't get the feeling of determined completion from that ending that you did. Not at all. The ship looked like a mirage. It didn't look real, and I don't think it was supposed to look real. The men on deck were posed in way-too-obviously-cartoonish poses of "brave discovery" and didn't seem to be pointing towards the girl and baby, a scant 100 feet away. They seemed to be gesturing towards an indefinable something off on the very distant horizon. Towards "tomorrow" or something similarly abstract?

I don't think we were meant to take the final shots as literally as all that.

― Adam Beales (Pye Poudre), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:37 (nineteen years ago)

I completely disagree. She sees the boat. The boat is real.

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:38 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.mostlybulldogstuff.com/Zelda_file/whatever%20floats%20your%20boat.jpg

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

Caine pretty much has the Edward G. Robinson role in Soylent Green -- old idealist doomed from the gitgo.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

How awesome would it have been if Dabney Coleman was on the boat.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:46 (nineteen years ago)

It was a predator ship.

(That could also be used on people confused after watching Inland Empire. Actually, never mind, the Lynch rabbits and Nastasja Kinski were on the boat.)

― AllyzayEisenschefterBDawkinsFlyingSquirrelRomoCrying.jpg (allyzay), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0362270/004_061-0137.jpg

― TOMB07 (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:50 (nineteen years ago)

BAM

― TOMB07 (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

If they have Natasha Kinski's genes on the boat then rabbit genes are superfluous.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

THE HUMAN PROJECT WITH STEVE ZISSOU

― TOMB07 (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

CHILDREN OF MEN 2: VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

dude can you just fuck owen wilson already & get it over with

― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:54 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.lumiere.org/films/images/titanic-photo11.jpg

― AllyzayEisenschefterBDawkinsFlyingSquirrelRomoCrying.jpg (allyzay), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:55 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.thesandpebbles.com/tsp2.jpg

― TOMB07 (TOMBOT), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:02 (nineteen years ago)

lol

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:03 (nineteen years ago)

This is why I think it feels like a short. Very simple concept that it follows single-mindedly, and the abrupt and open ending.

Yeah, see, I'm definitely on the side of appreciating this. The goal is to get her to the boat, and that gets accomplished, as much as tasks are accomplished in any contemporary setting. I have not seen that movie where Bruce Willis has to guide Mos Def across fourteen blocks, or whatever, but I'm guessing that their safe arrival doesn't end criminal behavior forever, which seems analogous to what some people in my audience expected from this one: that the unpleasant future would somehow be corrected at the end?

Theo dies in part because every single person who helps them dies. (The airstrikes obviously help with that, but it seems to be underlined when the Russians get shot.) Also: I really liked Sid's death, the sense of hesitance and repulsion on Theo's part as he bashes him. I appreciate seeing a film this suspenseful where the hero doesn't engage in any more action than knocking people with car doors, jump-starting a vehicle, and then showing great distaste in finally actually having to brain someone.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 07:45 (nineteen years ago)

Ahhhhh, Sid. His third-person self-commentary is awesome.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 11:59 (nineteen years ago)

Also, Theo doesn't actually say "baby Diego's a wanker", much to my chagrin - he says "he was a wanker". I can still hear Owen saying my interpretation outloud though.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 12:00 (nineteen years ago)

Also: I really liked Sid's death, the sense of hesitance and repulsion on Theo's part as he bashes him. I appreciate seeing a film this suspenseful where the hero doesn't engage in any more action than knocking people with car doors, jump-starting a vehicle, and then showing great distaste in finally actually having to brain someone.

Yeah, out of the heroes in the movie, who actually carries a weapon? Do we ever see Julian with a weapon? Theo uses a car door and a battery, but carries nothing. Kee: nothing. Jasper: nothing. Miriam: nothing. Merickha: carries nothing, but brandishes a piece of wood in an emergency (poor Sid brings out the worst in everybody). The only unsullied "good-guy" who carries a weapon in the movie is the Georgian(?) refugee who leads them to the boat.

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 14:50 (nineteen years ago)

Ahhhhh, Sid. His third-person self-commentary is awesome.

-- Sick Mouthy (sickmouth...), January 17th, 2007 11:59 AM. (Nick Southall) (later)

i dunno, this seemed a little out of place to me.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

For me it worked - Sid's presumably about 50 years old, and perhaps been a policeman all his life. He'd therefore have had a few years of working before all the troubles and immigration issues kicked off, and his job would have turned incredibly unpleasant. He smokes a lot of dope, and herds people into cages for a living. Talking about himself in the third person is probably a reasonably good coping mechanism for this.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 14:59 (nineteen years ago)

Played by Jeff Bridges in the remake.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

I thought Mullan nailed the "make a fugee face" line perfectly. I lauged, I was sickened, and I got a feeling not only of the enormity of the refugee suffering (for this to become common place), but I actually felt a little empathy for Syd, who, though he may be an opportunistic fascist pig, is totally getting fucked up dealing with his job.

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

Ha, it hadn't occurred to me that he brains Sid with a car battery: all of Theo's actions/attacks are with cars! Underscoring this film's status as Scariest Road Movie Ever.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 17:49 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.hiphop-blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/fugees_1.jpg

― The Ready Or Not Cat (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 17:56 (nineteen years ago)

http://videodetective.com/photos/458/019258_6.jpg

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 18:05 (nineteen years ago)

This is devolving into a "walk this way" bit.

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 18:06 (nineteen years ago)

glad I followed this thread and actually went to see this - totally harrowing, some really great technical feats of filmmaking in here.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 18:10 (nineteen years ago)

The King Crimson song was great, and a lot of the music was great. The Ruby Tuesday cover was unnecessary - surely the original would have sufficed. Don't know why they had to add the screaming SFX to the Aphex Twin track that Caine's character blasts for a laugh (and they should've used some intense Venetian Snares or something anyway).

The Jarvis Cocker tune just compounded the awfulness of the ending. The last two minutes is by far the worst part of the film. They should have made it half an hour longer.

Awesome movie.

― Andrew (enneff), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, and I was totally having Half-Life 2 flashbacks the whole way through. Enhanced the experience for me.

― Andrew (enneff), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

The entire time watching the movie I thought it was "fuji" instead of "fugee," and I was scratching my head, like "she doesn't look Japanese."

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 22:20 (nineteen years ago)

My take on it is pretty similar to Tombot's in that I watched it intently but the end left me in a state where I can't fully recommend it. Though less offensively than most Soderbergh (the director I most associate this with), it felt like Cuaron often used taste and craft to CONCEAL Hollywood bullshit, rather than make a film without it. Anybody looking for a good dystopian sci-fi film should see it, but it definitely feels overrated in some circles.

― Zwan (miccio), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 23:39 (nineteen years ago)

Actually I can recommend it, I just can't say its A+ or anything.

― Zwan (miccio), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

What, precisely, do you mean by "Hollywood bullshit"?

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 23:44 (nineteen years ago)

A lot of little contrivances as to who-dies-when, pointless moments of exposition (I really wanted Owen to say "um, yeah, I was there" when the midwife brought up how "that's when the despair started"), all the stuff people have brought up about the ending, minor details that you could argue the film HAD to have in order to work (I'm not really looking for an argument here - if I'm a nitpicker I'm a nitpicker), but I would have been fine without.

― Zwan (miccio), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

Er, so basic conventions of storytelling = "Hollywood bullshit"?

I think you're being a nitpicker.

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 23:52 (nineteen years ago)

I would have liked it to be a little less conventional, yeah. Sorry!

― Zwan (miccio), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 23:54 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think you have to apologize for anything except maybe inappropriate use of hyperbole (15-yard penalty, repeat 2nd down).

― The Android Cat (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 23:57 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not gonna apologize until I stop seeing the phrase "From the visionary director Alfonso Cuaron" in print ads, dude.

― Zwan (miccio), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 23:59 (nineteen years ago)

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