#9. Children of Men (2006)
(director: Alfonso Cuarón; starring Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore and Clare-Hope Ashitey)
The cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki is amazing. Not only for the fact that they were able to film an entire car chase sequence in a single shot, but that it was still completely organic within the context of the film that it took me no less than three viewings before I realized, “hey, this whole scene is one continuous shot!” Normally when a movie includes shots that long it will break the flow of the film and draws attention to itself (ahem, I’m looking at you, Atonement) but the construction of Children of Men is so perfect hardly a moment feels out of place. Alfonso Cuarón’s bleak science fiction film about the near future when people are no longer able to procreate and resulting chaos that ensues as all of humanity realizes they’re only living for themselves is breathtaking for both its staggering scope of vision and attention to realism. Normally movies that showcase the future highlight the fantastic spectacle and can feel like we’re watching some alternate reality, but here it highlights the similarities to our own world and we feel connected to it despite the radical differences. The story that unfolds within it wasn’t the sweeping epic I might have at first expected, it’s more intimate and human. The hero doesn’t have any grand plan (and he’s not much of a hero, surviving mostly by looking for the path of least resistance and some luck when the first plan fails) but he realizes the importance of the task at hand and through his small efforts to help he manages to overcome his own aloof cynicisms about society in a way that doesn’t feel hokey or preachy.
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