Children of Men

If I made a list of the most perfect films ever made Children of Men would be one of the films on that list. In 2006 I truly believe that the best film of the year was not even nominated for Best Picture.

Forty years into the future a dystrophic society has emerged; Brittan is forcing immigrants out of the borders, distributing suicide kits to the public and insisting that while the rest of the world has fallen apart they are soldiering on. However, the fact that the human race is now infertile is the ticking time bomb weighing on the mind of the global society, unless it can be fixed humanity will just die out with a sigh, and so far no one can do anything about it. After the world’s youngest person dies Theo is approached by his ex-wife to help in getting a young refugee across the border so that she can meet up with the Human Project, a group of scientists that are working against the destruction of society. On the way Theo’s ex is killed and Theo discovers what is truly at stake – Kee, the refugee is pregnant & she needs to get to the Human Project because this baby could save the human race.

Alfonso Cuaron is one of the best directors working today and Children of Men is his masterpiece. There is not a single thing that does not awe me about this movie; the acting, script, camera work, cinematography & even the costuming is brilliant and completely immersive. This is one of the single most impressive films I’ve ever seen. Part of what Cuaron does to draw you as an audience member in is to build organic sequences that can last for 3-5 minutes or longer without a single edit; in a MTV world this is alarmingly subtle because while the shots stand out when noticed they are so expertly done that they draw you in and have so much energy and movement to them most people don’t know there are no edits.

I also have to say that for the first time in watching a movie with Julianne Moore I enjoyed her character and performance, in fact I was actually upset that she wasn’t in the film more. What can I say? I know she’s a good actress, but Jurassic Park 2 rubbed me the wrong way and she’s annoyed me ever since. Julian is a smart, independent, driven character and Moore was the perfect actress for the part.

I want Cuaron to make another feature film, but I don’t know how his next feature can top Children of Men. I truly don’t think anyone but Cuaron could have made this film, and that if even one element had been changed it would not be nearly the film it is. This is a text book example of a perfect film.

Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Writers: Alsono Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby
Theo: Clive Owen
Jasper: Michael Caine
Luke: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Julian: Julianne Moore
Kee: Clare-Hope Ashitey

Miriam: As the sound of the playgrounds faded, the despair set in. Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices.

Duplicity

Ray & Claire are spies that are tired of the game; they meet on a chance assignment and continue to pursue each other afterwards until they come up with an idea – the decide to get out of the government game and get into the corporate one – they are going to play a mega corporation and sell one of it’s secrets. All Claire and Ray have to do is find the right company and set up the con, all while trying to learn to trust each other because they’ve fallen in love.

Tony Gilroy quickly came onto my radar with Michael Clayton, and Duplicity is a spectacular follow-up to the Oscar nominated film. It is easy to make a complicated film, but it is hard to make a complicated film that actually makes complete sense and Duplicity makes sense. The film is smart, witty, quirky and utterly planned & effortless.

As I watched Duplicity I kept thinking that something in the film wasn’t clicking, that for all the complications and turns the plot was making that it just wasn’t what it should be. I should not have doubted Tony Gilroy. Everything that I thought was missing, everything that I hoped might be in the movie was in the movie – but it wasn’t revealed until the end. This is a movie that is going to rise higher in people’s esteem on repeated viewings. The last five or so minutes of the film not only give the film an entire other level, but the banter between Ray and Claire is some of the best in the film – while a bit more subtle the lines for me carried much the same importance as the last lines in Some Like It Hot. The ending of this film distinguish it from any heist movie that has come out in the past few decades.

Director & Writer: Tony Gilroy
Ray Koval: Clive Owen
Claire Stenwick: Julia Roberts
Howard Tully: Tom Wilkinson
Richard Garsik: Paul Giamatti
Duke: Denis O’Hare