Children of Men
I saw Children of Men last night and I have to say I was impressed. Other reviews have compared this movie to Bladerunner, and I very much agree with that assessment. Both movies start slowly and are somewhat confusing for the first 30 minutes. But the plot gradually builds and evolves and the last third of both films is incredible. Children of Men is one of the most visually striking movies I have ever seen. The director, Alfonso Cuaron, makes use of extremely long takes and a minimum of cuts. This has the effect of presenting a truly "living world" where the camera can follow characters through street after street during a major gun fight with no interruption. Combined with incredible production design, this visual style is something to behold and much like Bladerunner it almost overshadows the plot, which is somewhat thin. Any narrative shortcomings can be forgiven in my opinion by the movie being presented as a "slice of time" where we are dropped into a story in progress and only witness a small section of the overall plot. Some movies work better with more exposition but in this case it would have only slowed the beginning down even more. The acting also helps greatly to fill in the gaps (Michael Caine is fantastic), providing a lot of character to an otherwise stoic background. I think this is one of those films where multiple viewings will only increase my appreciation for it. 4.5/5
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