“One of my greatest regrets movie wise is that I didn’t take Children of Men seriously when it was released in theaters, and didn’t see it until some time later. Okay maybe regret’s not the right word, but I’m still kicking myself over it. It came out just as I was starting to ramp up my movie going, so I was there often, but not a weekly appointment. The trailers focused on the infertility storyline, which didn’t really appeal to me. What I didn’t know was what a beautiful piece of cinema it is, story aside.
Directed by then future Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuaron and featuring the camera work of then future Academy Award winning cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, this film is visually awe inspiring, and considered one of the masterpieces of the 21st century. It seems like others (like me) also discovered this film later down the line as opposed to during it’s initial release. Honestly, I don’t know that I could have appreciated it back then. I probably would have picked up on some of the long tracking shots, but there’s still so much I would have missed.
Just reading thru IMDB trivia for the movie, there’s so many delicately calculated details that are easily missed. But they all add up to something truly special. And that story that didn’t particularly interest me is in fact the least interesting part of the film, in that it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of everything else that Cuaron accomplished.
Mad props to Clive Owen for carrying this film. This should have propelled him to a very deserved superstardom, and he did experience a few years of something approaching that. However, he seems to have faded a bit in recent memory, so here’s hoping he find something to propel him forward again soon.”