Children of Men by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón, and Mexican cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, is a futuristic story unlike many of the movies we have today in the same genre. Most movies today are cut, cut, cut, with edits lasting a few frames and moving on - desperately trying to convey action, pacing, and suspense.
In Children of Men, Cuarón slows things down. We are able to see the characters come to life and transcend the frame, something very powerful when done correctly. In some instances there are shots that last minutes, although with so many wonderful aspects of film making - directing, acting, cinematography, set design, etc. - we do not feel the shot drag on, nor do we realize that there hasn't been any edits.
I very much enjoyed the look of the film, and I feel it enhanced the storytelling greatly. Here Cuarón and Lubezki use a desaturated palette, enabling the futuristic world to seem grey, hopeless, and grim. Lubezki also operates the camera handheld in many different scenes, enabling us to dive into the world with the characters.
This is an excellent adaptation focusing on the societal aspects of the hopeless future thought up in P. D. James' novel, "Children of Men."
We are doing this for our English film study . Sounds really interesting!
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