CHILDREN OF MEN predicts a bleak future for humankind
CHILDREN OF MEN (Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Friday, December 20, $12, 7:00
Series runs through December 29
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
www.childrenofmen.net
It’s 2027, and there hasn’t been a baby born in the world in eighteen years. For some unknown reason, women have become infertile, leading to chaos around the globe. Only England perseveres, but it is on the brink of destruction as warring factions prepare for doomsday. Onetime revolutionary Theo (an as-even-keeled-as-ever Clive Owen) has settled down into a mundane life, but he’s thrust back into the middle of things when he is kidnapped by a radical organization run by his ex-wife, Julian (Julianne Moore), and her right-hand man, the hard-edged Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Theo is forced to escort Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), a young fugee (refugee), through the danger zone and to the Human Project, a supposed safe haven that might not actually exist. Also staring extinction in the face are Theo’s brother, Nigel (Danny Huston); Theo’s hippie friend, Jasper (a longhaired Michael Caine); and homeland security officer Syd (Peter Mullan). Inspired by the novel by P. D. James, the chilling Children of Men is a violent, prescient, nonstop thrill ride, moviemaking of the highest order, cowritten and directed by Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá También, Gravity) and photographed in vibrant filth and muddiness by Emmanuel Lubezki (Sleepy Hollow, The Tree of Life). Nominated for three Academy Awards, Children of Men is one of the best of the dystopian science fiction films of the twenty-first century, predicting a future that is not as impossible as one might think. Stay through the credits for a tiny but critical coda. Children of Men is screening December 20 at 7:00 as part of the Museum of the Moving Image series “See It Big! Great Cinematographers,” which continues through December 29 with such other beautifully shot films as How Green Was My Valley, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, and Doctor Zhivago.