Children of Men

Saw the film back in October (I'm over in New Zealand). One of my favourite films of 2006. The action sequences are amazing. I love the way it's sci-fi but the subtle details could keep you rewatching 10,20 times. Shame it isn't making back the production money but it cost a lot more than I'd realised. The scene in the car is amazing.
 
And just referring to a few posters on the pages before me - the brilliance of this film is that people leave wanting more. It shows that the film has succeeded on every level. You want to know what happened to these characters. You want to know where this fictional world leads to. The film would have completely failed if people left not caring what happened to Kee, what happened to mankind, how Theo was posthumously rewarded for his actions...a world that keeps us wanting to ask questions is proof of the brilliance of Alfonso Cuaron.
 
just watched it.

Verdict: A-

Very good, very beautiful, and they made it look, "simple". thats very hard to pull off.
 
frmain said:
Saw the film back in October (I'm over in New Zealand). One of my favourite films of 2006. The action sequences are amazing. I love the way it's sci-fi but the subtle details could keep you rewatching 10,20 times. Shame it isn't making back the production money but it cost a lot more than I'd realised. The scene in the car is amazing.
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YEAH THAT WAS A GREAT STUNT! THE CAMERA WORK WAS GREAT.
 
Yes, I too heard it cost 75 million bucks. I have a feeling there was a lot of foreign money involved in that budget. Cause I don't think anybody would've believed that this movie could make 75 million dollars in the U.S.

But wow, 75 mil. That's like a decent sized chunk of money. I thought it costed a lot closer to 30 mil. Don't know what that says about the film.

Still loved it though.
 
Did anybody else notice fringing when they walked outside the newspaper laden interrogation booth?

I smell some top notch compositing...
 
BTW that 11 minute single take, of the battle scene in the buildin was not 1 take. it was digitally composited, together. But DAMN thoes guys did a good job.

Also the car sequences were done using a super rig that dismantles itself as the cmaer apasses and so you can move the camera around inside the car without any obstruction. amazing work.
 
I just saw Children of Men right now. I was amazed. Everything was excellent in my opinion. I'm still in awe. I can't wait till tommorow to see Pan's Labyrinth. While I enjoyed Babel, I felt it was missing something when compared to Children of Men.
 
TimurCivan said:
BTW that 11 minute single take, of the battle scene in the buildin was not 1 take. it was digitally composited, together. But DAMN thoes guys did a good job.

Also the car sequences were done using a super rig that dismantles itself as the cmaer apasses and so you can move the camera around inside the car without any obstruction. amazing work.
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Hey Timur, where'd you read that? Not doubting you - I've been trying to figure that out. I've watched the sequence on youtube a few times, and there is actually a frame of complete (or what looks to be, on youtube) blackness right when Theo runs into the apartment building and passes through the doorway.

The weird thing is that seconds after that, the blood drops slowly "melt" away. I know they supposedly decided to digitally correct those because they stayed on for the entire sequence, but I almost wonder if they didn't ADD the blood drops on either side of the splice, if as I suspect, that's where it was, just to sell the cool story about how it's one take.

So yeah, what did you hear about it being composited and where? That's been my suspicion, but the company line is always that it was one shot...Not that either way takes away from the sheer awesomeness of it all :)
 
I read that it was a nine minute shot, which is still really impressive. There's a good American Cinematographer article about the scene and movie. I'm about ready for my second viewing of this now.
 
Great long takes, great premise, great acting but a HORRIBLE ending. As soon as the screen went black I thought "don't you dare end there, 5 more minutes" and then the credits rolled, I wanted to throw something at the screen. Sure, you can go on about it being art, but I think it was just sloppiness in the writing. You need to be able to come down off of that emotional roller coaster before being kicked off. Imagine if Braveheart had ended at the execution or if Star Wars: A New Hope had ended 5 seconds after Luke fired the photon torpedos. Give me a freakin break and end your story properly.
 
From all sources Ive read, there was no cut at all in that 7 minute take, or however long it is, where they run through the streets and the building. The blood was rotoscoped out after Theo gets up the first set of stairs frame by frame for the rest of the take. Like I said, I could be wrong, but Ive seen maybe 4 or 5 other legitimate sources that say otherwise.
 
Just watched it. Loved the set design and the hand held footage. The film has some great cinematography and it feels so real. Similar to 28 days later. I hated the end. It's definitly worth watching, but the end seems like it was left open intentionally for a sequal.
 
I finally got to see this tonight with a Q&A afterward with one of the writers, Tim Sexton.

The movie was very powerful with many fine performances. I really liked the story. My only real complaint was the shooting style. Way too much handheld. In the end during the actions scenes the handheld was appropriate and added to the terror of the situation. In the beginning, however, it was just an unmotivated shooting choice that was constantly calling attention to itself. I was continually being reminded that I was watching a movie. Other than that, I thought the directorial choices were excellent.

The Q&A afterward was enlightening. Quite a bit of CG in this movie, too. The amazing birth shot, for instance.

BryantStanton said:
From all sources Ive read, there was no cut at all in that 7 minute take, or however long it is, where they run through the streets and the building. The blood was rotoscoped out after Theo gets up the first set of stairs frame by frame for the rest of the take. Like I said, I could be wrong, but Ive seen maybe 4 or 5 other legitimate sources that say otherwise.
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You are correct about them removing the blood afterward. The British crew was upset that the blood ended up on the lens and that they'd have to shoot it again. The cinematographer loved it and felt it made the shot. [my personal feeling is it was a mistake and they should have removed it all]. That scene took thirteen days to shoot and they got it on take 6 of the last day.
 
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geez talk about hardwork.

but the blood was getting on my nerves and I was wondering when it was going to cut. but was impressed at how it disappeared right in the middle. I just dont understand how you remove something like that without making the image look funny. It was pretty bad.
 
It thought it was amazing. I used to have the same problem alot of people on the board seem to have, of overanalyzing films, noticing things that the audience isnt supposed to pick up on. It started to piss me off because i couldnt enjoy movies the same way i used too so i just stopped trying, and actually get involved in th story. You might like it better if you don't care about where the shot cut, or when the blood disappeared.
 
dvpixl said:
geez talk about hardwork.

but the blood was getting on my nerves and I was wondering when it was going to cut. but was impressed at how it disappeared right in the middle. I just dont understand how you remove something like that without making the image look funny. It was pretty bad.
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disappearing blood? you mean the spatter on the lens?
 
Stunning movie. I found the death scenes to be done they way all death scenes should be done, shocking and uncompromising.
 
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