Children of Men

[Lost Highway]

Thanks tenia, I’ve got the Universal, so I’ll stick with it.

[nitin]

I have the Arrow release. I’m sure a 2k/4k scan would be an upgrade but this current disc does look terrific.

It was finished on a DI, very rarely do major studios let alone indies, go back to the negative for a film finished on a DI.

[flyonthewall2983]

I gotta admit, I wasn't really impressed. When the legend "from the director of Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire" or whatever showed up, all bets were off for me to take this seriously.

As opposed to the director of Y Tu Mama Tambien, who we respect?

-Toilet Dcuk

[TheKieslowskiHaze]

The problem is the craft has aged well but the dialogue hasn't

I rewatched Children of Men last night, came on here and searched for this thread to say this very thing. Yeah, the dialogue is often sententious and terrible. The exchange in which a character says she'll be "here for the end" and Owen replies "No, you'll be here for the beginning" is a big oof.

Is this a problem with Cuaron in general? Probably. I thought about my favorite movies of his and noticed an absence of what I find grating in his other movies: Y Tu Mama Tambien's characters mostly avoid pseudo-philosophizing aphorisms, and Roma's mostly avoid talking in general.

I like Children of Men and Gravity, but, removed from that initial feeling of being enthralled by the technical achievement, the cracks show.

[therewillbeblus]

I haven't read the source material, but is it possible that those lines of dialogue are just adapted from there? I don't know the answer, but I'm not sure Cuaron should shoulder all the blame here by default.

[knives]

Most likely not as the movie has only the broad outlines of the most basic elements of the premise in common.

[dustybooks]

Yes, the film deviates so drastically from the book as to be nearly incomparable apart from its very basic conceit. It’s a very well written book but falls apart dramatically in its second half and I think the film’s story changes are almost uniformly improvements. Sadly it’s been too long since I’ve seen it to speak much to the debate about the dialogue.

[Roscoe]

It's not just the dialogue that oofs in Cuaron's film of CHILDREN OF MEN -- I wince everytime I even think about the name of the ship run by the Fish: the TOMORROW.

For what it's worth, I seem to recall that P.D. James was most enthusiastic about Cuaron's film, as profoundly different as it is from her novel.