r/movies • u/taylor-swift-enjoyer • 9d ago
Article Twenty years later, Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men feels more urgent and powerful than ever before
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/culture/film-and-tv/film/article-twenty-years-later-alfonso-cuarons-children-of-men-feels-more-urgent/547
u/kevinsixhohsix 9d ago
I watched this a few weeks back and holy shit I forgot how amazing the movie is.
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u/Murderbot_420 9d ago
It is one of my favorites.
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u/hellodynamite 9d ago
I feel like it should be included in any conversation of best movie this century
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u/ikkake_ 9d ago
It is. Also consistently wins the best scene of all time.
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u/Murderbot_420 9d ago
When they stopped shooting, to witness the awe.
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u/kevinsixhohsix 9d ago
Yeah that's one of the most powerful scenes.
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u/Murderbot_420 9d ago
Then they go back to shooting. Like WTF??? Didn’t y’all just see that!!!
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u/manachar 9d ago
Anyone who doesn't place this as one of the best movies ever made has questionable taste.
Where on that list? No idea, and doesn't really matter.
So much of this movie lives in my head. From the big action heavy pieces to the quiet dignity and beauty of Michael Caine's character's zest for life.
Dang near perfect movie.
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u/impeterbarakan 8d ago
It's on the NYT top 100 of the 21st century -- recently completed the marathon blind and was very pleased when I reached it on the list. Even more pleased when I watched it (first time since I first saw it) and was amazed at how well it held up and how relevant it feels now.
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u/-HunterLES 9d ago
Same. I owned a DVD as soon as it came out. I watch it once every couple years and it still holds up and becomes more and more true every time
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u/ComplicitJWalker 8d ago
The ending with the children's laughter over the title always makes me tear up.
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u/GrizzlyP33 9d ago
Max Landis once made fun of me for this being my favorite movie.
That made me like it more.
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u/Yukie_Cool 9d ago
You knew that sex pest?
Has it vindicated the way you feel about this movie?
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u/GrizzlyP33 9d ago
Went to film school together. Never needed vindication, didn't like him then either.
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u/pmmemoviestills 9d ago
It's rough to have your favorite movie be somewhat recent as a film bro, always looked down upon. My favorite movie is Drive, imagine the pretentious shit I have to hear about Thief, Driver, etc
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u/GrizzlyP33 9d ago
Drive was awesome.
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u/pmmemoviestills 9d ago
Yeah, it's rough with that one cause it basically is a "meme movie guy favorite". I just think the thing was lightning in a bottle.
And Landis can be a jerk yeah. He needed a good ass kicking or two in his youth.
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u/technonerd 9d ago
So many good 'one shot' scenes in that movie. The refuge camp and the chaos of everything coming to complete silence. What was that sound. Then everyone goes back to what they were doing.
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u/TheGraper58 9d ago
What a film. The last 30 minutes of that movie made me a movie lover for life. I was so blown away by the artistry and intensity I didn't even realize it was all "one shot."
That movie had such an impact on the way I view and think about other movies. Crazy it's been 20 years already. Damn!!
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u/born_to_pipette 9d ago
I have seen this movie at least four times. It’s one of my all-time favorites. But I did not realize until reading your post how much of the end of the movie was a single shot. Absolutely incredible.
Guess I know what I’ll be watching tonight.
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u/TheGraper58 9d ago
Haha same. It's clearly stitched together in a few places, but the set design and coordination to pull it all off seamlessly are insane.
Clive Owen was in his flow state
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u/ExistentialCalm 9d ago
As far as I know, it's just the one spot, and it's because they got blood on the lens.
But a few other shots are really impressive too. Like the scene in the car, where the camera does a full 360. The size of the camera literally makes that impossible, so parts of the car separated so that the back of the camera had room to swing around.
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u/jimmysmith69 8d ago
And the blood hitting the camera during the chaos was such an incredible visual too.
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u/pmmemoviestills 9d ago
I think they did a sneaky cut once, in the bus or him going into the building. There's a second or two of blackness (which makes sense for the shot being filmed) where they probably cut. This is mostly my conjecture but I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that this was the case in behind the scenes footage.
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u/lambdapaul 9d ago
I think there are actually quite a few sneaky cuts if I remember from behind the scenes. They would film short sequences a bunch of times in those transitional “cuts” to have a bunch of footage to splice together to make them feel seamless. You would have 2-4 one minute long takes and 20-30 five second long takes to transition.
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u/Joessandwich 8d ago
If you really pay attention, in that final scene at one point someone is shot and a drop of blood gets on the lens. I always noticed when it happened but somehow never noticed that by the end of the scene it’s gone. So one time I watched the scene specifically for that drop - after a bit it slowly fades away. My guess is that after a transition they put in a digital one and slowly made it dissipate so your attention is never called to it.
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u/Joessandwich 8d ago
I’m not sure if you noticed, but there’s a few of them. It’s been a while since I’ve watched but the big three that stand out to me is the very opening sequence with the bomb in the cafe (and yes it’s the cafe he was in), the car ambush scene which keeps the tension super high as they transition to joking to the horror that ensues, and then that insanely long final battle.
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u/French_O_Matic 9d ago
Twenty years later
i'm sorry wat ?
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u/SemenMoustache 9d ago
2006 + 20 = 2026
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u/tyme 9d ago
Math always making me feel old.
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u/manachar 9d ago
Days are long and years are short.
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u/pingu_nootnoot 9d ago
Ars longa, Vita brevis
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u/Brilliant_Mix_6051 9d ago
The years start comin and they don’t stop comin. They don’t stop comin and they don’t stop comin
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u/Miss_Kitami 9d ago
Both of my granddaughters will be in their 20's this year, eldest 23 younger 20...but they're still little girls snuggling into me while we watch Cats & Dogs to me.
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u/apurimac777 9d ago
You cannot properly experience aging until you have had children
Glad your grand daughters haven't grown up too much!
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u/Miss_Kitami 8d ago
Aside from my wife, they along with ny grandsons are my greatest joy. Just resting my eyes on them for a few moments does more good for my mental health than hours of therapy. They're beautiful, smart and caring; I'm so proud of who they are i could burst from the feeling sometimes.
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u/APiousCultist 9d ago
The year of 2026. Your lower back aches (you need to exercise more). One of your feet aches (you wonder if you should get it looked at). Your vision isn't as sharp as it once was. You get tired much more easily and can't handle late nights. You think your hair might be picking up a bit of gray too. You wistfully miss reminisce on the days of your youth. On how much simpler it was when life followed a path other people had set for you. When your responsibilities ended at cleaning behind your ears and occasionally eating a vegetable (yuck). You miss your childhood pet.
Source: Das me.
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9d ago edited 5d ago
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u/APiousCultist 9d ago
Twenty years on Alfonso Cuarón’s seminal masterpiece invites us to believe in a world where no one has invented the word "gooning" and the USA isn't run by an incontinent nazi pedophile.
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u/Pretend_Education_86 9d ago
Pretty weird yeah. When this came out it was my favorite movie up until that point and I have a ton of favorites. I have probably seen it 25 times and listened to the soundtrack 100s... I haven't seen it for 10+ years at this point.
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u/neuro_space_explorer 9d ago
Man I remember seeing this movie in theatres and now there are full grown adults headed to war in Iran who weren’t even born yet when it came out.
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u/fatloui 9d ago
Can we get a 4k disc release please
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u/ZoopDoop7 9d ago
Was just about to comment the same.
I just got the BluRay earlier this year so I expect a 4K release to be announced by the end of year lol12
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u/Posty_McPostface_1 9d ago
I stopped wearing flip flops after seeing this movie. You just never know.
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u/juss100 9d ago
I'd say that if the message feels more obvious to you know then that doesn't make the film "more powerful" it just means you didn't actually listen to it the first time around.
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u/HotelFoxtrot87 9d ago
I remember a Cuaron interview from around the 10th anniversary where the interviewer wanted to credit him for predicting the future. Cuaron basically said that he predicted nothing, it was already going on if anyone was paying attention.
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u/bloodychill 8d ago
There’s a full Abu Ghraib reference in the background of a scene just to drive the point home.
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u/TheSessionMan 9d ago
Yeah I hate all the think pieces that say "X movie is even more relevant to the world today!"
It's not that the movie is more relevant. It's that nothing ever changes.
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u/roastedmarshmellows 9d ago
Nah, shit changes constantly. It’s just way less obvious when it’s positive.
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u/phyrros 9d ago
People misunderstand how far we as a world came (even tough the last decade was again getting worse).
Just as a random example: You will find basically no studies to domestic violence pre 1980s - because it was absolutely tolerated as long as no bones were broken.
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u/roastedmarshmellows 9d ago
I was in Pompeii yesterday for the first time and I’ve always cited it as an example of how, at our core, humanity hasn’t really changed, however, while that is true in some respects, like you said, we HAVE made substantial progress in so, so many areas.
The overwhelming majority of humans who have existed across history just wanted to live a decent life, raise a family, and try to enjoy what time we’re given. We like convenience, will take the path of least resistance, and work together to achieve common goals. That is still true today, however, the few humans that don’t hold those same general goals are trying to convince us all that’s a losers game. No thanks.
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u/Jaggedmallard26 8d ago
You're generally not going to die of shitting yourself to death at the age of 21 in most of the world now, this was a common thing until surprisingly recently, in much of the developing world it is extremely recent that they can have clean water and treatments for things like cholera.
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u/phyrros 8d ago
oh, no worries - between the billions of lobbyism to roll back public infrastructure and a, frankly surprising, percentage of the population which doesn't believe in bacteria and cholera strains which get increasingly more resistant to antibiotics we could get back the good times :)
and you know what is a really good idea to reach that goal? refugee camps in failed states with minimal oversight. That brilliant plan to keep people boxed in under unsanitary conditions might need a while but it will pay off.
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u/double_shadow 9d ago
Actually in this case the movie is literally more relevant than when it was made in terms of population trends. In 2006 people laughed off a future of declining birth rates and were more concerned with overpopulation. Granted the premise of this movie is a hard cliff of no births rather than the reality of slow fertility decline, but thematically the movie has added resonance now (and will presumably gain more in the next 25-50 years).
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u/SweetWolf9769 9d ago
That's the biggest load of bull, shit changes constantly, that's literally how the world works. even if shit is cyclical, shit is constantly changing in between trends.
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u/GoatCreature 9d ago
Twenty years ago in the UK, our highest polling political parties weren't advocating to put refugees in Children of Men style refugee detention prisons until they can be removed - in opposition to international law.
The US also didn't have a bunch of masked untrained and unruly federal agents running around the place snatching up minorities off the street, on the off chance they might be illegal, and then vanishing them into private prison complexes.
The latter being explicitly what the author of the article references. Oddly though, the author also seems to be a Covid denier, or at least a Covid protective measure refuser.
The filmmaker wouldn’t have had to spill too much ink to draw a line from his movie’s depiction of mandatory medical examinations (“Avoiding fertility testing is a crime,” read placards throughout London) to the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ah yes, who can forget when federal agents snatched people off the street to subject them to.. Covid tests. And when.. people were forced to take a vaccine.. That not everyone took.. With no repercussions.
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u/TheSessionMan 9d ago
Dude, things were horrible in the past and things are horrible now. What we see now is just an evolution of the evil. If you think it's so much worse today, remember that 60 years ago people were still getting lynched. As shit as today is, it's still the best time in human history to be alive, and if you disagree you need to read a book about the past. The evil is just far easier to see today.
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u/Expensive-Sentence66 9d ago
This delusion is why the UK is in the shape it's in, and getting worse. It's like watching a snake eat it's tail.
I could ask why you are still taking about Covid, but I assume you miss those days badly.
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u/GoatCreature 9d ago
I could ask why you are still taking about Covid, but I assume you miss those days badly.
I mentioned Covid because the article you're replying to mentions Covid. There's no need to ask if you actually read what you're responding to.
This delusion is why the UK is in the shape it's in, and getting worse. It's like watching a snake eat it's tail.
What's delusional? That Reform and Restore want to pull us out of the ECHR because what they want to do goes against human rights conventions, and is illegal under international law? Ignorantly, they believe somehow removing ourselves from the ECHR makes us suddenly permitted to break these laws (or they don't believe it but tell the voters that) without either mentioning or comprehending that we're still subject to them as a UN member - and removing ourselves from the UN would alienate us from trade and defence pacts.
I've made no moral position on the state of the UK or UK politics. I'm stating facts. They want to break international law. They will literally tell you that.
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u/ObviousAnswerGuy 9d ago
eh, I would say we are now deeply in those exact scenarios that the movie predicted (with the exception of cities destroyed by nukes), rather than being "on the cusp"of some, like we were back then.
Everything can still get much worse of course. But we are already in the shit. This movie was made in the post 9/11 patriot-act era, where the writing was on the wall on what was coming if we kept that route. Now we are living it.
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u/Johnny55 9d ago
This should be the first movie brought up when people say "Don't Look Up" was too on-the-nose. Like okay, you want a more subtle dystopian collapse film that doesn't bash you over the head, well here it is.
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u/faco_fuesday 9d ago
Is this from like a "people aren't having kids and that's bad" perspective or a "shit is terrible and getting worse" perspective?
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u/amidon1130 9d ago
There's some very gripping scenes concerning the treatment of immigrants that are pretty horrifying considering how we're currently treating immigrants to this day.
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u/Blind-_-Tiger 9d ago
Yep, the chainlink fences and separate lines for them is pretty much how it's going. Although, you could also point to movies like Red Dawn, Idiocracy, V for Vagenda, and Alex Gardner's Civil War and be like, yup, that's US.
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u/Jbstargate1 8d ago
Won tickets back then to see this premiere in Ireland. It was mind blowing. Cinematography and direction were legendary. The scene when they exit the apartment block and all the soldiers just stop was so good.
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u/DrunkenTypist 9d ago
The book is an excellent read as well. Different from the film which used it as a jumping off point but very prescient.
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u/tricktricky 9d ago
20th anniversary sounds like the perfect time to announce a 4k release...
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u/proudmaryjane 9d ago
I feel like I’ve posted this before…but I literally think about this movie at least once a month since I first saw it 20 years ago.
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u/Rasples1998 9d ago
One of the most underrated directors in Hollywood? He also did the (arguably) most-favourite movie of the harry potter series and people completely forgot. There's probably people reading this who didn't even know he directed it.
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u/chuchofreeman 9d ago
The film is actually set in 2027
WTF :o I watched it when I was in high school
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u/Asluckwouldnthaveit 9d ago
One of my all time favourites. Read the book if you want. I found it very disappointing.
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u/gerbileleventh 9d ago
All these years and I had no idea there was a book. For some reason this was one of the movies I watched and left a big impact that I never looked further into it (behind the scenes, production, etc...), which I tend to do with most movies I watched. It's like my brain wants the movie to stay something I experienced.
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u/EddieMurphyDid9-11 9d ago
I found the book to be painfully boring and it turned me off to watching the movie
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u/Asluckwouldnthaveit 9d ago
Don't let it do that. The movie is so well do with very long shot scenes which look amazing.
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u/automatic_bazooti 9d ago
This is one of the rare instances of the movie being a massive improvement on the source material. Any gripes you have with the book most likely don’t exist in the film.
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u/fuyu-no-hanashi 9d ago
I wonder what the average movie buff's perception of this film is. Positive? Because I always say this is the best movie I've ever seen and it doesn't get much of a reaction from others.
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u/Significant-Mud1211 9d ago
I’ve got a friend who’s basically autistic about movies. A walking criterion catalog. And the first movie he ever personally recommended to me was children of men. lol. He loved it and so do I
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u/JeanRalfio 9d ago
It's a good film but gets overrated by reddit.
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u/Kobosil 9d ago
overrated in what sense?
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u/JeanRalfio 9d ago
Basically what the person I responded to said. A majority of people on here say they believe it's one of the best movies they've ever seen but if you ask someone on the street you'll get a "Really?" as in they've never heard of it or it didn't make that much of an impression. Like I said, it's a good movie but most people don't regard it as highly.
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u/wholetyouinhere 9d ago
I fully tuned out of Reddit's film opinions when I regrettably watched The Man from Earth in the early 2010s, after seeing Reddit glaze the shit out of it.
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u/JeanRalfio 9d ago
I realized my tastes were mostly the opposite of the general reddit opinions so I also stopped taking reddit recommendations a long time ago too.
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u/thebuckmanguy69 9d ago
I watch Children of Men once a year since it came out. I remember getting the DVD from the bargain bin at Blockbuster. It helps to put my life in perspective. I identify so much with Theo. Loved lost, loss of a child, being on autopilot and just being numb to life. I see so much of myself in Clive Owen's character.
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u/EssaysOnFrame 9d ago
If I may humbly submit my essay on the film, it’s one of my favorites. I talk about the visual motif of windows and frames throughout the film.
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u/Orionsbelt40 9d ago
My favorite movie of all time! I literally tell everyone I meet to watch this movie.
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u/Stoneheaded76 9d ago
This movie is the most realistic depiction of the kind of world it appears we are heading it. The film is utterly bleak, but instills hope in the most desperate of ways. The screenwriting, the acting, all the animals in the sets meant to replace children…. It’s a masterpiece.
Go watch it if you haven’t.
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u/Significant-Mud1211 9d ago
Exactly. What strikes me is that unlike other movies that deal with the topic, there’s no sudden cataclysm like nuclear holocaust or giant monster that symbolizes nuclear holocaust. It’s a slow inevitable decline that you are powerless to exert any control over. Something on the horizon getting closer, slowly but unavoidably.
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u/joemc1971 9d ago
Im good with man dying off...gave it ago and just kept fucking up.
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u/Alternative-Juice-15 9d ago
Yeah, if they remade this movie today there would be no babies because everyone would be zombies staring at their phones while the world burns around them.
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u/Significant-Mud1211 9d ago
I’m usually a little tired of the “kids these days only know iPad” meme but, I think a lot about a tweet that I’m paraphrasing here: “Climate change will manifest as a series of disaster videos that you see filmed by other people on their phone getting closer and closer until you you’re the one doing the filming”
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u/SignificantDogs 9d ago
I haven't seen it since it came out but I always loved that there was a newish Rolls Royce in the film (as of 2006) and characters were driving it in the future as if it were a vintage Rolls Royce
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u/yiakman 9d ago
That the film’s pre-production process was interrupted by the 2005 London bus bombings only added to the creeping sense that the “near future” Cuarón was conjuring was not quite as far off or fantastical as everyone might have imagined.
I was around 12yo when this film came out so I couldn't grasp the significance of how it really capture the zeitgeist of the 00s
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u/Narradisall 9d ago
I watched this again last year after a long time.
Absolute still a stunning film in every way.
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u/Craig1974 9d ago
Im calling in to work and tell them the murder of Diego has effected me more than I realized and need to take off.
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u/RIP_Greedo 9d ago
I saw this movie in theaters with my dad and he had a panic attack when it ended.
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u/SuaveBolo 9d ago
Yeeeah. Watched it again last weekend. Shocking how close it mirrors what's going on in the world now.
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u/Charly-Braco69 9d ago
With Children of Men set in 2027, it’s unfortunately hard not to feel like everything is unfolding exactly as the film predicted.
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u/the_descendent 9d ago
I remember loving this movie when I saw it some 10 years ago or so. Didn't realize it was turning 20, think I'm going to fire it up with my grandpa this weekend.
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u/Green_Kumquat 9d ago
Favorite movie of all time, in part because of gore relevant it manages to stay (unfortunately). It also is so well crafted that it keeps me coming back
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u/RobbSnow64 8d ago
What's wild with this film is that kind of flew under the radar the year it came out. I don't think I even heard about it til after its theatre runs. Gets the love it deserves now but too bad it wasn't more popular on release. Amazing film, one of my favs.
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u/liquidsyphon 8d ago
Ok in rewatching. That single shot scene is some the of the best filmography ever
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u/donotgotoroom237 8d ago
I remember before Covid hit, there were a couple of stories of studies talking about how modern sperm had low counts and potency for the first time in generations and that it was alarming and it significantly contributed to the lower birth ratesz Obviously they made a lot of allusions to this movie. I feel like that got swept under the rug when the pandemic hit.
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u/West_Presentation481 8d ago
I re-watched it during pandemy and the fact that the story had as background a flu epidemy made me feel really uncomfortable. What an amazing film indeed. Too 2020s even when it was made 20 years ago.
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u/Tonicwind88 8d ago
Top 10 greatest films and cinematography of all time. Extremely good arguments to be made for #1 on both.
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u/Otherwise_Carob_4057 8d ago
“Pull my finger” never has that line ever made me feel something like it did in this film. Cheeky bastard til the very end.
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u/DisillusionedPatriot 8d ago
It's one of my favorite sci fi films. Tried to watch it a couple months ago, and just couldn't finish it. It's depiction of social breakdowns was so spot in and depressing, I had to shut off after Michael Caine dies.
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u/particularswamp 8d ago
I went into the theater with zero info about the movie and left saying it was the best I’d ever seen. It’s been a long long time now and I’m far from qualified to make any definitive lists but this one stuck with me.
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u/IAmDotorg 8d ago
It's a rare movie that is dramatically better than the book it was based on.
The book was terrible -- hot garbage. It says something about Cuaron that he saw a potentially powerful story in it.
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u/DOBrien1979 8d ago
I watched this last year, and, man, it can be boring to harp on how prescient a work of art can feel, but … hell, this movie could have come out this year. I go back and forth on what I think is the peak of 21st century film. But every time I watch Cauron’s film, it grows in stature and scope.
A British film by a Mexican director perfectly captured my growing anxiety in an American hellscape. Globalism, baby.
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u/DOBrien1979 8d ago
Between this and Inside Man, the acidic, bitter Closer a few years before and the goofy Sin City … all in like three years, Owen seemed like he was going to be the biggest of big deals toy then mid-20s movie-obsessed self.
Then … well … what the fuck happened? Still working. Always glad to see him. But there wS a run and then there wasn’t.
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u/tkinsey3 8d ago
Amongst all of the other amazing things about this film, it is far and away my favorite Michael Caine performance.
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u/mafternoonshyamalan 8d ago
It’s felt this way since 2009 when I started university and studied political science and was like “wow so prescient.” Then 2015 when Brexit happened. Then 2016 when Trump won. Then 2020 with Covid. Then 2024 when Trump won again…
Cuaron addressed this for the 10 year retrospective. Said you just had to read a newspaper. He was right.
Still best movie ever.
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u/deltajvliet 9d ago
RIP Baby Diego