Available at Amazon.com
Own it on DVD March 27, 2007
Director
Alfonso Cuarón
Cast
Clive Owen ………. Theo Faron
Julianne Moore ………. Julian Taylor
Michael Caine ………. Jasper Palmer
Chiwetel Ejiofor ………. Luke
Claire-Hope Ashitey ………. Kee
The Movie
Making a book into a movie is a real dicey proposition. Adhering to the tone and story of the novel, while trying to condense what usually is a 500 page novel into two hours or less of screen time is a very tricky task for any production staff. And in a year with several top notch films based off of books, Children of Men came and went with little fanfare outside of several minor Academy Award nominations.
Based off the novel by P.D James, Children of Men stars Clive Owen as Theo Faron, a British administrator trying to survive in 2027 England. The world then is much different than it is now; humanity has seemingly lost its ability to reproduce. With the world fighting itself as it faces extinction, a slimmer of hope remains in Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey). Kee has somehow managed to become pregnant, and Theo has to get her out of the country safely after being introduced to her by his ex-wife Julian (Julianne Moore) and the leader of the movement Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor). In what becomes an action-adventure, Theo has to get her to the boat that will bring her and her unborn child to freedom.
And the first thing that stands out about the film is its cinematography. Rightfully nominated for an Academy Award for that as well as it’s editing, the film is gorgeously shot and the editing is terrific as well. Cuarón uses plenty of different angles and shots to draw out the story he wants to tell. It’s more about what he doesn’t show than what he does show, as well as how he shows pivotal moments. He uses non-traditional angles for pivotal events, giving them a heightened sense of importance. When two major characters die, Cuarón does it in a way that makes it both unexpected as well as stunning. It adds to the drama as he skews more towards a character-centered style of cinematography; shooting major events from a perspective of someone in the moment as opposed to trying to gain the perfect angle.
The film is also more about atmosphere than anything else. Cuarón has designed England of 2027 to look like the sort of bleak, depressing nightmare the film’s story portrays it to be. It is little touches that he does well, like duct tape holding up dirtied and decayed weather stripping on broken windows, that truly make the transition from a poor neighborhood to a bleak time and place. Everything just doesn’t look blighted, as would be the expected look. This looks and feels like the future, as opposed to modern times with some new gadgets.
But the films problem is that it has an awkward pace when it comes to its storyline. Admittedly the film functions a lot of times as a pleasant diversion between chase scenes, but it has plenty of serious drama and heart to it that it also works as a straight drama as well. It’s just that the moments between the action sequences aren’t paced as tightly as the action is. Cuarón is able to take the film to great heights during the action scenes, taking one’s breath away early and often, it’s just when the guns aren’t blazing his pacing is off. It might be more of a script issue than his directing, as something obviously must be lost in the translation from book to film, but the momentum and good will built during some of the films better moments are lost when the film has to slow down and go into the exposition aspect of story-telling. It takes away a lot from some of the best action of the year.
Overall Children of Men is a film destined for more of cult status when all is said and done above anything else. Featuring a solid cast and Clive Owen in a role destined to be remembered on a long resume of good work, its a good film that hopefully should receive a second life on DVD.
The Audio
Presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 format, the film has a terrific audio component. Allowing the sound to fully take advantage of the format, the DVD allows one to truly get immersed in the environment. Sounds move completely through a system that can handle it, as well as the films effects and sound come through crystal clear as well.
The Video
Presented in a widescreen format with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, Children of Men also has a great video transfer to it as well. A very dark and otherwise murky looking picture due to its subject matter, the film comes through cleanly and clearly. There is no grain to the film, only its muted colors and detail coming through.
The Extras
Deleted Scenes are the usual suspects deleted from the film for various reasons. Mainly deleted for pacing purposes from their look and feel, they’re presented in unfinished form in the audio and video departments and wouldn’t have added anything back to the film if inserted.
The Possibility of Hope is a feature that combines several philosophers and other social scientists focusing on how humanity is changing and quickly turns into a Communist seminar from several of them on the “inequality” of people. It gets really annoying really quickly and doesn’t stop reaching, comparing the world economy to drug addiction and all sorts of other really bizarre things. It feels more appropriate to be attached to a piece of propaganda like An Inconvenient Truth than to this.
Children of Men Comments by Slavoj Zizek is Zizek, a philosopher of some note, going off on tangents about the “deeper” meanings of the film. It’s more interesting to try and understand what he’s saying than what is going on in the feature, as his thick accent makes understanding this near six minute rambling an interesting feat in and of itself.
Under Attack is a feature focusing on the meticulous nature of Cuarón in relation to the action sequences of the film. Focusing on some of the techniques they used and the teamwork used to develop the sequences, as well as the unique way in which they built a device to be able to shoot one of the early chase scenes, it’s a fascinating feature.
Theo & Julian is a feature focusing on Owen, Moore and Cuarón and their respective looks at the two main characters of the film. Discussing the motivations of the film, it’s interesting to see Cuarón discuss how Owen and Moore used their abilities to add to the film in certain ways.
Futuristic Design is a featurette that focuses on the production design. Focusing on trying not to be like Blade Runner and more derivative of modern day, the production staff thought that the logical progression would be that after 2010 nothing would be maintained. Therefore things would be a bit more tarnished and dirty, as cities have become rundown and infrastructure has not been maintained. It was obviously a lot of work, as the sorts of ideas and creative notions that have gone into it are fascinating.
Visual Effects: Creating the Baby focuses on the climatic scene in the end, as subtitles walk the viewer through the sort of visual and creative effects used to create the scene.
