Kinematoscope

With climate change, overpopulation, food shortages, international terrorism and strife, and economic destabilization, you can make a pretty convincing case that the world is going to sh*t. But there's always hope, even intangibly, for the future- a promise we may not live to see fufilled, but a promise that's nonetheless always been there.

What Alfonso Cuarón's modern classic, 2006's Children Of Men asks us: what if that promise were revoked?

In a world where all women become mysteriously infertile, where there's no future on the horizon, a chaotic and bleak dystopia hangs on for dear life in 2027 England. Join me for a road-movie with lots of rubble, broken ideals, a curious lack of editing, and some delicious stork dinners.

The Key Players:

Cuarón made a reputation with the classic-lit adaptation of A Little Princess and the modern update of Great Expectations, both of which are better than you remember them being. He would gain critical acclaim with Y tu mamá también (earning a screenplay nomination) and add commercial success by knocking Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban completely out of the park (still the best film in the series. I will fight you.).

Clive Owen, stubble-enthusiast and Oscar nominee (for the miseryfest known as Closer), has balanced indie roles like Gosford Park and his breakthrough in the BBC TV film "Croupier" with big-time starring turns in Inside Man and Shoot 'Em Up and so on.

Michael Caine pops up again in support, and Julianne Moore has a bigger part than in Magnolia (but still not a second-billing level role. That's a fake out).



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The Story:

Owen stars as Theo, a weary office worker in a drab 2027 London. He keeps his head down and tries to navigate terrorist bombings, a hyper-xenophobic government rounding up all illegal immigrants, and the memory of his long-dead son.

No one has been born since 2009, and the youngest person alive ("Baby" Diego) is murdered by a crazed autograph-seeker, to the sadness of the general public. Theo spends his days avoiding trouble and occasionally visiting his friend Jasper (Caine), a hippie-tastic former political cartoonist with a secret forest hideaway.

But soon Theo's ex Julian(ne Moore) shows up to offer him a job: arranging transport of a young woman to the coast. Julian, the mother of said long-dead son, has channeled her grief into leading a group of rebels called the "Fishes," that fight government oppression and the Holocaust-like treatment of foreigners.

Theo visits his cousin, a government minister, to get the papers, and soon hits the road with Julian, the girl Kee, and other Fishes Luke (Chiwetel Ejiafor!) and Miriam. But their car is attacked, and Julian shot in the neck and killed. Soon Theo learns "what's at stake": Kee, a young African immigrant (young being 19 or 20), is miraculously pregnant, and Julian wanted to get her to the mysterious "Human Project," a long-rumored society said to be researching a cure for the mass infertility.

At a crossroads, the Fishes decide to keep Kee in the country to give birth- Theo quickly discovers that they killed Julian, and intend to use the baby as the rally point for an armed uprising- you know, instead of trying to save the human race, whatever.

So Theo and Kee are on the run with no transit papers, no money, no sensible shoes, and only Jasper the hippie and Miram the zen-chanting midwife to help them try and get to the Human Project's ship.

The Artistry:

Production designers Geoffrey Kirkland and Jim Clay, along with set designer Jennifer Williams, would win the BAFTA for Art Direction for their amazing work on Children Of Men, but astonishingly (in retrospect) not get an Oscar nomination: (You're telling me Dreamgirls, The Good Shepherd, and the second Pirates movie were all beter? Please.).

But the lived-in plausibility of Children Of Men's future is what makes it such a great film. In the features, Cuarón says he wanted to make the "anti-Blade Runner" and keep it as much in the background as it could be. So there are new, different types of cars, but they're already rundown and dingy. There's commonplace, Tokyo-like, LCD billboards everywhere, but we only see them briefly in a handheld, casual shot, as if to say "meh."

The thing about the future is, the people in it don't think of it that way- so the only context we get are tv news reports, casual references, and old headlines we can read off of newspapers stuck to the wall- the only reason any characters exposit on the fertility crisis (the cause is never made clear) at all is because Kee's pregnancy makes it relevant to talk about.

Children Of Men is really about today even though it's set in the future, which is a large part of why there are no silver jumpsuits and why the film wants us to experience the harrowing action sequence in real time. A few masterfully choreographed, long takes (or takes blended to look like one take through some sort of trickery) in particular stand out:

1. the first scene of the film follows Theo into a coffeeshop, out on the street, and pans around him just as the coffeeshop explodes. The extras, explosion, and all the cars in the street had to be precisely in place at the right moment.

2. When the car is attacked and Julian is shot, a special camera rig swivels all around the interior.

3. When Kee gives birth (uh, spoiler?) it's all in one take, culminating in a real-looking lil' CGI-baby.

4. A 7+ minute sequence in a raging refugee-camp battle near the film's end follows Theo through streets, buildings, and hundreds of extras as bullets and bombs fly.

It lends a raw, documentary feel to the proceedings- at one point during the battle sequence, fake blood spatters on to the lens- cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki convinced the director to keep the take.

Children Of Men is about the world dying; it's a film about loss. Julian tells Theo the ringing in his ears from the cafe explosion is the sound of the ear cells dying. "Once it's gone you'll never hear that frequency again."

We hear the ringing as well, on the soundtrack, and not only after the bombs- Julian's shooting and Jasper's death at the hands of the rotten Fishes are scored with high-pitched death rattles as well, a note of finality.

There's no beauty to the future, usually a pristine visual place to visit- the only works of art left are collected by Theo's cousin, who dines next to Michealangelo's David and Picasso's Guernica (and even a Banksy piece) as his dead-eyed son ignores him. When Theo asks this conniseur how he can pretend preserving art matters anymore, he cooly claims "I just don't think about it."

The similarities of the refugee camp to war footage from Iraq was striking in 2006, and even moreso now that the war's more than doubled in length in the years since. And though it strains belief a bit, it's a powerful moment when everyone stops shooting upon hearing the cry of an infant, a death song of the past or the birth of a future.

If I have one complaint about Children Of Men, it's the complete lack of chemistry between Owen and Moore- they only seem like they've even met before in one moment in the car, which is right before Moore's character dies anyway. Otherwise the roles are very second to the atmosphere, with only Caine's inimitable character acting rising above an archetype. But that's fine with me.

THE ENDING! SPOILERS!

There's no beauty, and almost no hope in Children Of Men, but "almost" is the key word. The Human Project, which only Julian had spoken to directly, turns out to be real after all. Theo and Kee dodge bullets and tank mortars to row out to sea to greet them.

Theo, sadly, has taken a bullet to the stomach, and slowly collapses as they wait in the fog. Kee settles on a name for the first baby in eighteen years- after considering "Bazooka," she names her daughter "Dylan," in honor of Theo's son.

END SPOILERS


Overall: Should It Be Higher, Lower?

Higher than high: not to get too Oscar-centric (though when am I not?), I don't know if any of those nominees will stand the test of time against Children of Men- not even The Departed, and especially not Little Miss Sunshine.

The Legacy:

It would settle for Writing, Editing, and Cinematography nominations instead- though it won a BAFTA for Art Direction and Cinematography- Lubezki also took home the guild award for his trouble.

The Best Video Of It On YouTube:

This making-of featurette (mostly about the long takes) is pretty neat.



Leftover Thoughts:

-"Gossip Girl" star Ed Westwick has a wordless bit part as Theo's cousins' zombified son.

-Cuarón's next film, Gravity will open with a 20-minute long tracking shot and at least co-star Robert Downey, Jr. I am so there already.

-Isn't the plural of "fish" still just "fish"? Just saying.

Coming Up...

184. The Wild Bunch

183. The Killing

182. Judgment At Nuremberg

Halfway through 1972's Sleuth, I found myself with an odd sense of deja vu until I realized I had seen Anthony Shaffer's 1970 stage play performed in middle school (much later than 1970, though).

I didn't remember the ending or anything, just some indelible images- the howling of a man in a clown costume as a shot is fired, or the oddly familiar figure of an inspector asking questions about a body that can't be found. The story, a mystery of cruel games between two English gentlemen, really has too many twists and turns to keep track of for too long anyway, but it's the kind of fun Edgar Allen Poe would be proud of.

The Key Players:

Sleuth is actually the last film of director Joseph Mankiewicz's illustrious career: nominated for Best Picture as a Producer six times (including The Philadelphia Story), he would win both Screenplay and Director two years in a row for A Letter To Three Wives and All About Eve. After toiling for three years on the over-budget commercial flop Cleopatra, he returned to form for his swan song.

This is our second clash with the charisatic and devilish Laurence Olivier, but our first enocunter with Michael Caine. He and Jack Nicholson are the only actors with Oscar nominations in the last five decades. His most famous roles tend to be the subject of remakes, with The Italian Job, Alfie, and a recenter Sleuth trading down for Mark Wahlberg and Jude Law. He's also Alfred Pennyworth in the recent Chris Nolan blockbusters, of course.

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The Story:

Olivier plays a clear analogue of Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of a hugely successful mystery series featuring a "St. John Lord Merridew," a private consultant that often beats incompetent policemen to the punch.

He invites a younger, roguish Caine to his large estate, which is full of hedge-mazes, games and puzzles, and creepy automata, to confront him- Caine wants to marry Olivier's wife, and the older man has a proposition that would benefit them both...

I'm reluctant to explain more without a spoiler wall. Hmm...

THE ENDING! SPOILERS!

Let's rundown the twists:

1. Olivier isn't mad about the affair- in fact, he suggests that Caine steal some jewels from him to be able to keep the wife in luxury- Olivier will get the insurance money and everyone wins. To that end, he has Caine dress as a clown (for a disguise) and make a convincing show of breaking in.

2. Olivier then announces his intention to kill Caine, and the burglary was just a ruse to make it look justified. He forces Caine, who's cowering in fear, to put the clown mask on, puts the gun to the back of his head, and BANG!

3. An inspector Doppler comes to the house, investigating the disspearance of Caine. Olivier explains the entire affair had been a ruse- he shot a blank, intending only to humiliate Caine for cuckolding him. But the inspector finds blood on the bannister, and there's a mound of freshly turned earth in the garden. Olivier frantically protests innocence...

4. Until Doppler takes off his disguise (which are all well done prosthetics indeed) to reveal that he is Caine, getting revenge! Olivier claims never to have been truly fooled.

5. So Caine starts a new game, claiming to have killed Olivier's mistress and hidden incriminating evidence about the house. A phone call to the mistress's flatmate confirms this, and a distraught Olivier madly searches for the four items amid Caine's taunting clues to their whereabouts. He finds them all just as Caine lets policemen into the house.

6. Fooled again! The flatmate and mistress were in on it, and Caine didn't kill anyone. This sends Olivier over the edge, and he picks up the loaded gun, and shoots Caine in the back as he leaves.

7. But then the police really arrive, as Caine had made a complaint about the initial fake-shooting.

Sleuth begins and ends with a curtain within the frame, showing us Olivier's manneguins and robots and their idle grins, as if to remind us that what we're seeing is a show.

When Caine yells "Please!" through the clown mask right before being "shot," I realized I had seen "Sleuth" in the mid-nineties at some point, which tipped me on the identity of the inspector as well- though the film does an admirable job distracting us, with the credits claiming "Introducing Alec Cawthorne as Inspector Tindle."

There's also a fake "John Matthews" and "Teddy Martin" credited as the imaginary detectives Caine is waiting for in part 5. In fact, no one appears but our two leads, and no one else is necessary.

For a while, it seems as Olivier is going to act circles around Caine- the older man gets such a meaty part in the early going, flitting from jocularity to whimsy to rage in a heartbeat, filling each line with menace. But the tables turn often enough to showcase Caine's sadistic side as well, boiling over into class-based anger from time to time.

Both do a good job of dealing in the underlying resentments without spelling them out- Olivier's impotence and Caine's half-Italian heritage, chiefly. In fact, the camraderie after Caine reveals himself as the inspector is such that you wish these characters could be friends- if only they didn't both need to win so badly.

The reveals and double-reveals may get a little tiresome, but it ends in real bloodshed and ruin satisfyingly enough. A dying Caine even fittingly reminds a crumbling Olivier, "Be sure and tell them...it was only a bloody game."

END SPOILERS


Overall: Should It Be Higher, Lower?

Higher, I'd say. What was the last successful film that only featured two actors? I can't even think of something that tried it (Gus Van Sandt's Gerry?). Shaffer may have been worried about how his play would translate to the screen, but it great to have a version of it that captures the wickedly cunning spirit so well.

The Legacy:

The film would earn nominations for the Score, Mankiewicz's direction, and the rare double Lead Actor nods for Olivier and Caine, but would lose all four. Nonetheless, the play remains a popular stage production (even in Houston, TX in the mid nineties).

Harold Pinter adapted an entirely new version of the play for director Kenneth Branagh in 2007, with Jude Law in the Michael Caine role and Michael Caine in the Laurence Olivier role. Despite the star power, the fil was poorly received, suggesting the '72 version might be the definitive one in peoples' minds (or that they made it too claustrophobic and repetitive). I'll probably watch it sometime to compare.

The Best Video Of It On YouTube:

I looked all over for the scene early on where Olivier explains how much he hates the presumptious, lower-class Caine (and you realize It. Is. On.), but the best I could find was the big Inspector Doppler reveal. Uh, spoilers.



Leftover Thoughts:

-Forgot to mention the jaunty score that emphasizes the dramatic moments mostly by going quiet, or the Cole Porter songs that Olivier made all creepy.

-I would've nominated the eerie sailor automaton for Best Supporting Actor, the number of times they went to it for a reaction shot.

Coming Up...

195. A Streetcar Named Desire

194. King Kong (1933)

193. Rosemary's Baby