Children Of Men

The lady and I watched Children Of Men the night before last, as I needed to refresh it in my memory for a paper I was writing and she had never seen it. Released in 2006, this movie ended up in the top of many movie critics best movies of the year lists. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who also brought us Y tu mama tambien and the blockbuster Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban, and starring Clive Owen. Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine (omg, i'm so excited for Dark Night!). The movie is apparently loosely based off the novel by the same name, but how similar they are I don't know. Who reads anyways?

The premise of the movie is rather original, to me, and lends to creating an excellent setting. In the future women inexplicably become infertile, which leads to a massive change in the human social spectrum that causes much of the world to collapse. The movie follows Theo Faron (Clive Owen) in a futuristic, semi-police state, Britain trying to get by when he is suddenly swept up into a crazy scheme by his estranged wife, Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore), who is the head of a rebel group, in order to save mankind's last hope at survival.

So, yeah. The film is gripping, powerful, emotional, and chockful of ideas about humanity, social relations, government, gloablization, race, and sexism. It definitely makes me feel like someone opened a window and let some pollen in at the end. The cinematography is fantastic, and the dialogue is equal parts human, intelligent, and witty. Sadly, as Kate pointed out to me, the character development is lacking, especially in Jasper's wife. (crickets) You'll get it after you see the wife. But, seriously. Other than Theo, and to some extent Julian, most of the characters are very static. Besides this, though, the movie is pretty excellent.

Children of Men gets 8 Beards and A Mustache, for excellent story, excellent cinematography, and one of the most intense and emotional long shots I've ever seen in a movie.