Buddy Challenge: Defend Children of Men
Here's the deal: i'm hearing tons of critical praise for Children of Men, but this movie sent me into a coma of depression. It was totally overwhelmingly bleak, i didn't like a lot of the acting (Julianne Moore, anyone?), and some of the scenes were a little too par in the realm of in-your-face political commentary to gibe with the in-you-face post apocalyptic realism.
Not that i don't recognize the awesomeness of the camera work and super long takes. And Michael Caine. That stuff was great.
On the other hand, a lot of smart people (in addition to the movie critics) liked this movie. So why don't some of those people write in here and say why they liked it. Not to say that you should really have to defend the movie (that's just for publicity,) and not that we should have some kind of big debate about it, but it would be interesting to get a bunch of different takes on the movie. eh?
Not that i don't recognize the awesomeness of the camera work and super long takes. And Michael Caine. That stuff was great.
On the other hand, a lot of smart people (in addition to the movie critics) liked this movie. So why don't some of those people write in here and say why they liked it. Not to say that you should really have to defend the movie (that's just for publicity,) and not that we should have some kind of big debate about it, but it would be interesting to get a bunch of different takes on the movie. eh?
posted by Chris @ 5:03 PM
5 Comments:
At 5:48 PM,
ian said…
Can you send me a bootleg copy, or at least lead me to a torrent, so I can watch it? Then words will be had!
At 11:30 PM,
Jon said…
I wonder, Chris, if you were responding to the very realistic playing out of a highly implausible disaster scenario that this film pulls off so well. Personally, this one hit me right in my nihilistic sweet spot. I love dystopian visions of the future, as most geek-nerds do, but I never really get the feeling that any of them could ever actually happen.
I also have to say Michael Caine's might have been the only performance I didn't like...very actorly, although his character's music choice (an Aphex Twin track from Drukqs with screaming overlaid) was totally hot. Julianne Moore might have been somewhat wooden, and I'll cede the point that she probably shouldn't have been screwing around in the car with Clive Owen in the long take, though I could deal with it for the sake of narrative expediency and the establishment of a past relationship between the two characters. Nothing else about the performances really bothered me.
I think there's a fair amount of hope in the movie myself. [spoiler avoidance follows] I thought that part where everything goes quiet near the end was really powerful - of course, everyone goes right back to what they were doing shortly thereafter, but any other way out of that moment would have rung false.
Best of '06!
p.s. I don't know nothing 'bout no torrents. Hear that, Internet?
At 8:05 AM,
Chris said…
thanks for replying. the thing is, that while the overall situation is indeed implausible, all the really horrible stuff (other than the sterility) is stuff that is going on right now. given some of it may not be happening in britain or the US, but obviously a lot of those images were drawn from Abu Graib and so on.
but i get what you're saying, although i'm not sure what actorly means...
At 7:59 AM,
Jon said…
To finish you off, I redirect you to this much more cogent argument on the film. Oh yes, my favorite movie-nerd website is smarter than your favorite movie-nerd website!
http://www.notcoming.com/screeninglog.php?id=1780&query=children%20of%20men
At 10:31 PM,
chris said…
pat really raked me over the coals this weekend on this one. but i can't help but feel that as amazing as the cinematography is, it doesn't make up for what's missing from the movie... it just doesn't feel (to me, of course) like it has something compelling to say. and it matches really realistic depictions of war with a tired narrative arc about a worn-out guy who has given up hope (due to a personal tragedy that will be revealed in due time) but might just turn out to be OK in the end.
letting him die at the end of the movie (if he did, i saw it that way) is letting him off easy, he gets to be the hero and he doesn't have to live in that miserable world anymore.
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