Our Daily Trailer: CHILDREN OF MEN
With Interstellar in theaters and news that Foundation is coming to HBO, we’re getting all caught up in smart science fiction with this week’s Our Daily Trailer run. I have the privilege of kicking it off with one of my absolute favorites.
Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men scares the shit out of me. I saw it twice the week it opened and still watch it frequently, but it has never been an easy film to sit through. Its ferociousness and take no prisoners approach to character lifespans makes the film's dystopian future feel far more real and brutal than any YA novel ever could. I admire Children of Men for its beauty and narrative frankness, but I have to admit that it brings me further than I care for into a setting that feels totally real and unsafe. When it ends, with its final moment of hope and humanity, I’m always a little relieved to get back to the regular, not quite as shitty world that I’m used to.
In other words, this is an extremely well made movie. And since it takes place in a future that comments on who we are today, it strikes me as extremely smart sci-fi as well. Plus, like Interstellar, it also features Michael Caine as a pothead (you Interstellar fans caught that, right?).
This trailer is from 2006, so it’s not very dated. Though I do think it makes some poor music choices, it still gets across Children of Men’s singular look and feel. You can tell this is not going to be yet another movie about a world where women can no longer have babies.
