Movie Crush Monday: CT & Children of Men

Happy Monday, all! On a bright shiny Monday like this, doesn't it seem perfect that we're going to talk about a super dark, difficult, and distressing film. But it's one of my all-time favorites. 

Children of Men came out in 2006, just as I was starting my film school education. It was one of the first movies I watched where I had the language to understand and talk about what I was seeing and why it worked so well, which means it'll always have a special place in my heart.  

It starts with some spectacularly written hard science fiction. Children of Men is based on a novel by PD James, and the novel is just as much of a beauty, and just as difficult, as the movie. The concept is that in 2027, all the women of the world are sterile and no new babies have been born in years. It's sent the world into chaos and war, as humanity struggles with the concept of their imminent doom. We're following a man named Theo, played by Clive Owen, as he gets drawn into a plot to save a woman who is miraculously pregnant. 

Ok so let me get film-nerdy with you for a second because the look of this film is key to its success. And the look is awesome. Director Alfonso Cuaron said that he wanted a movie that felt like a documentary, and boy did he get it. The cinematography was done by the best of the best, Emmanuel Lubezki, who makes you feel like a war photographer dropped into the very near future. Long shots, beautiful hand-held, tracking shots through the crowds- it all works together to create a film that forces you into the action. 

And then there's the cast. Oh, this cast. I dream about working on projects with casts like this. Julianne Moore plays Theo's ex-wife and the tension between them every time they're on screen together is so intense that it's palpable. Michael Caine plays a hippie political cartoonist that harbors them at his home, and even though he's only in a few scenes of the movie he's one of the most memorable parts. Charlie Hunnam, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Danny Huston- it's like every incredible actor of the moment shows up to play here. And the result is a world that feel real from the first second of the movie until long after the credits. 

So the point here is that while it's a really difficult watch (especially in a political climate that often feels like it's on the brink of science fiction itself), Children of Men is a beaut of a film that will leave you breathless and on the edge of your seat. 

Happy Watching!

CT