Thanks for sharing this, you have some really valid criticisms in there, some of which I noticed while watching the film, but was able to set aside for the sake of enjoyment. Most notable, the fact that they conveniently "yell" there plans loudly enough that he can hear them through the window and the "from the hilltop" "pull my finger" death scene that he can conveniently see. Also, yes it's true that the whole "Human Project" thing is weak and the cousin would seem a viable option, given his money and status. However, I think the movie works on the level of metaphor better than the level of realism. If you try to think of it in terms of "this could or couldn't" happen, it breaks down pretty quickly. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't hold it up as the end all/be all for films. I'd recommend it to someone to see though. As for his motivation being money and why would he take the baby all the way without it etc... ? I think the answer is his memory of begin a father. He has a paternal intuition that kicks in. Thanks for sharing this KB, I'll not expect a response as you've clearly put in your time already debating this film. Again, I think you make some valid criticisms. What did you think of the cinematography? Also, I too enjoyed the Floyd references. That pig was anything but subtle though.
You know what that statement means from a practical standpoint, right? "I want this movie to be true even though it's false." It's a movie. It didn't HAVE to be false. If you're making everything up, make it up so that it MATCHES. Yes - it's a metaphor. A pound-the-audience-over-the-head, wallow-in-your-inferiority metaphor, like CRASH or any other "oscar contender" which starts out with the premise "you know, people are assholes." Thing is: if you're going to make people assholes, they have to act assholish in a way consistent with accepted human behavior or you have to explain why. Children of Men is full of characters that act like assholes because METAPHOR and then act like saints because METAPHOR. It's the clumsiest, weakest, shittest writer's crutch there is. Write characters, not parables. Do you once see him to do anything to save the baby? Everything Theo does he does because someone else makes him do it. Three of my friends are cinematographers. I've sat through so many countless "beautiful" films in which fuckall happens that I've actually started to resent cinematography. You know what's easy? Long fucking shots. You know what's also easy? Frames full of ruin. You know what Children of Men is? Long shots full of ruin. You know what's hard? storytelling. Friend of mine had a project set up at Disney. McG was slated to direct it. My friend came over to talk to McG while McG was finishing up Terminator:Salvation. McG made him watch little snippets of it and said "What do you think? Doesn't it look awesome!??!??!??" My friend said "of course it looks awesome, you spent $200 million on it. How's the story?" My friend got kicked off the project, even though he'd been nursing it for eight years.However, I think the movie works on the level of metaphor better than the level of realism.
I think the answer is his memory of begin a father. He has a paternal intuition that kicks in.
What did you think of the cinematography?
This was actually my biggest problem with the new series "Black Mirror" in particular with Charlie Brooker's stories. It didn't seem like he cared about the characters he was writing for at all, he just wanted everyone to know "Hey people are jerks heres a universe where they are all jerks, this could happen in real life huh?" It is just so irritating. The preachiness doesn't even annoy me, it's the idea of "Well we need all of these characters to be as bland as possible so that they can fit into every situation in the viewers mind" On the other hand, individually in Children of Men, I think Ejiofor, and Owen do a lot of good work in terms of acting (or the editor at least made them look particularly good). There are nuances when the Human Project meet up. They bring something to the characters where they could have easily been very very cardboard. It's the clumsiest, weakest, shittest writer's crutch there is. Write characters, not parables.
I keep meaning to check it out because everyone says it's so brilliant and then I'm like "yeah... but Charlie Booker is one of the most overly-hyped men in the British Empire." As someone who works in Reality TV, I'm sick of picking apart his take on Reality TV.
Word, I want to like Black Mirror more than I actually am legally allowed to for this exact reason.This was actually my biggest problem with the new series "Black Mirror"...
Yep, you've definitely got to have the story first, no doubt about it. I'm working on a new album right now and it's going to have some cool instrumentation, but without the songs it won't work. I'll need to be able to strip back all the synth, horns, strings etc and play the song on a piano or guitar and still think to myself, "yep, this is a good song," or it just doesn't work. I suppose films are the same way, with the "story" being the song. All the rest is window dressing.