Children of Men/The Painted Veil

[mariness]

Saw Children of Men last night, and in the bright light of morning, I'm still not entirely certain how I feel about it. I can give it a solid 9 out of 10 for holding my attention; a solid 8 out of 10 for building a believable, well thought out setting; a solid 7 of out 10 for cinematography (the much praised 18 minute long shot near the end of the

Comments

Children of Men

[julbkwrm]

I saw the movie over the weekend, and I was also not sure about how I felt at the end. I also thought the long shots were nicely done. However, I do not recommend watching this movie in the 3rd row of the theater. It really increased the queasiness factor.

Re: Children of Men

[mariness]

I was seated far further back, and still, queasy feeling.

On a completely unrelated note: game night Saturday?

[meandering]

I liked Children of Men. I was so thrilled to see a good treatment of science fiction with believable characters that the somewhat bleak theme was fine by me. I did like it.

[mariness]

Sadly, you're right that believable speculative fiction movies are all too rare. I just rather hope that we can have a believable speculative fiction movie that isn't quite as cynical and depressed about humanity.

[meandering]

I do agree that it's cynical. The thing that I find most thrilling from good SF is when you have real human reactions to one singular "change". That's why I liked the movie. Having the human race face seemingly inevitable extinction is very much a dystopian future and they portrayed it very well.

I actually thought while the setting was very negative, the fundamental story of Clive Owen's character bringing the mother and child through hell to people that could give the world hope to be a very positive one.