Clive Owen - Children of Men
Children of Men - Directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), the film seems to be shot almost entirely with a hand-held camera, and most scenes play out without any cuts (single shot sequence), so you get the feeling your walking through the events as a participant or observer. Very cool. That climactic scene at near the end looks like it's entirely one shot, no cuts, and it goes on for many minutes, all with bullets, sfx, movement, action, dialog...amazing accomplishment for a single shot...though it turns out they did use CGI to blend some cuts and elements, but still...the impact is substantial. You feel like you're right there.
Can't say I loved the story, but the approach Cuarón took of hand-held shots, long takes, etc. gave a great effect.
Clive Owen is quite convincing as the bewildered protagonist throughout the story. Julianne Moore plays a small but pivotal role, as does Michael Caine. Claire-Hope Ashitey plays the girl/woman Owen is charged with protecting.
Loosely based on the book The Children of Men' by P.D. James. Story goes that director Alfonso Cuarón intentionally never read the book. Didn't want to start over thinking his approach. Though a co-writer did read the book, just for safe measure.
Children of Men Links
- IMDB entry for Children of Men (2006)
- Children of Men - Wikipedia
- The Children of Men DVD | Clive Owen & Julianne Moore
 | Children of Men [DVD] |
| Children of Men (Video Download) |