Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / Chrildren of Men (2006) - Alfonso Cuarón | Houselights #161
Transcript
- 0:00Usa usa u usa ut u u u u u u u u u uta
- 21:47sai us satis us u usa usa usu us u us. Welcome to the
- 57:16NED party. H H. Hello everybody at home, and welcome to Houselights
- 57:37House of Quiron, specifically Alfonso Quran, as we continue our deep dive into
- 57:43the directorial works of this uh, this Mexican filmmaker, this visionary, this
- 57:50uh, this this import of import uh. He is someone that we've had
- 57:55a great time analyzing over the past couple of weeks, and tonight we are
- 58:00talking about Children of Men that came out in two thousand and six, and
- 58:05Darren, as you were telling us earlier before we started this conversation, even
- 58:10though this was a critically acclaimed film, and this was I think at the
- 58:15top two hundred and fifty movies that you should see before you die, those
- 58:19kind of thing like top two fifty on letterbox for narrative films, it didn't
- 58:22make a lot of money. Not a lot of people saw it. But
- 58:24tonight, hopefully you guys have seen it, and we have seen it in
- 58:30preparation for this conversation, and I cannot wait to talk about it. I
- 58:35am your host Tristan Riddell, and with me as always is Darren doctor sci
- 58:37Fi Moser himself and John Mills. How are you two doing tonight? I'm
- 58:45doing fine, Thank you. I listen. I you know, this is
- 58:52definitely going to be an interesting discussion because I had a strange epiphany while I
- 58:55was watching it, which you know, gets back to some other stuff,
- 58:59but we'll get there. I am looking forward to discussing this, especially as
- 59:04I know Darren has his own insights on everything. Yeah, I mean it's
- 59:07set in twenty twenty seven. We're a little closer to twenty twenty seven.
- 59:12This movie was made both chronologically and socially, so yeah, that was an
- 59:21interesting watch. You know, like some movies that you watch after you become
- 59:24a parent and you get a different vibe because you have kids. Now,
- 59:29Yeah, I'd say this one also falls into that, like v Ferrindetta or
- 59:34other kind of uprising ish films where yeah, it's a lot to take it.
- 59:39A lot of people die in this movie, Tristan. A lot of
- 59:43people die. Yeah. Why when I saw this in two thousand and six,
- 59:47I saw this in theaters and when like, when you walk out of
- 59:52it, you're like, man, I hope we can avoid that. I
- 59:54hope that doesn't happen. And then you watch it today in twenty twenty three,
- 59:59and you're like, oh God, that's gonna happen, just like watching
- 1:00:04Future Imperfect from Deep Sase nine where they go back in time to the nineties
- 1:00:07and it's like sanctuary districts and you're like, yeah, because those aren't gonna
- 1:00:13happen. Yeah. So, John, when was the first time you saw
- 1:00:19this movie. I'm pretty sure I saw it on disc you know, in
- 1:00:23years past. I don't know specifically what year, but i'd heard, not
- 1:00:28heard. I'd seen different stuff online, you know, talking up you know,
- 1:00:32reaction to the editing, and you know, the sort of dystopian aspects
- 1:00:37of it, and it had gotten a lot of positive press, you know,
- 1:00:40where I was looking at it, and so I'd had an interest and
- 1:00:44I wound up watching it, and I like, immediately, you know,
- 1:00:47you can't watch this film and not immediately respect the hell out of what Quiran
- 1:00:52and his team pull off with a lot of things, making it look like
- 1:00:57continuous shots to sustain this spence, making it with the way they shot it
- 1:01:01look more documentary in its feel than anything else. So you know, right
- 1:01:08off the bat it garners a lot of goodwill because regardless of anything else you're
- 1:01:15looking at and you're like, this is you know, when you're talking about
- 1:01:17craft, this is a team that absolutely has complete command of their craft.
- 1:01:23Whether it's how they choose to use CG, whether it's how they choose to
- 1:01:28edit, whether it's the music they choose. Everything has such intent behind it
- 1:01:32that you know that you've watched something special come together, divorcing it from anything
- 1:01:37else, just in terms of the technical wizardry necessary to make something like this
- 1:01:43happen. Like you just sort of at the end of it, just baseline
- 1:01:46impressed that you saw such care go into the creation of something, because even
- 1:01:52by two thousand and six, we were sort of, you know, becoming
- 1:01:55accustomed to the slap dash CG blockbuster already by that point, and so this
- 1:02:00comes out and it's like, oh, that was refreshing. Look, some
- 1:02:04people knew how to use the tools that were laid before them, isn't that
- 1:02:07great? Yeah, this is the kind of CG where it's replacing backgrounds and
- 1:02:13enhancing like skylines, and you don't notice it nearly as much because it is
- 1:02:20setting it in this future dystopian world, but they're yeah, so, I
- 1:02:24mean, I'm sure this movie is packed full of effect shots, but if
- 1:02:29you had to point them out, it'd be much more difficult. And that
- 1:02:32is, like John said, using the tools. Well, Darren, when
- 1:02:37was the first time you saw this? I probably saw it in theaters.
- 1:02:40It's hard to recall, but around this time I would have been still in
- 1:02:45school and living with a bunch of film majors, so we probably all went
- 1:02:50and saw this, saw the trailer and got together. But yeah, but
- 1:02:54I don't think I have I've probably seen it once more since then. I
- 1:03:00don't own it. I might have rented it or seen it in Blockbuster.
- 1:03:02But like I've said, it's it's a beautiful film as far as what it
- 1:03:07makes you feel, what it visually puts on the screen, the story it
- 1:03:13tells. But it is very depressing. It is very like there's not a
- 1:03:17lot of hope in there, but like Clive Owen's feeling. But yeah,
- 1:03:23so I was kind of like, Okay, let's get you know, I'm
- 1:03:27gonna have a bowl of ice cream, I'm gonna have some happy thoughts,
- 1:03:30and we're gonna pop in the Children of Men and No, but I am
- 1:03:34looking forward to to discussing it with you too, and all the long shots,
- 1:03:37like we're gonna have this long podcast in one take, unedited, just
- 1:03:42like the movies. Let's just go right into it, because I feel like
- 1:03:45Children of Men is most famous for that sequence, for the battle sequence in
- 1:03:52the in the refugee in the in the Yeah, in the refugee district.
- 1:03:55It's I think it's a seven minutes over seven minutes of a continuous shot.
- 1:04:01I mean, you know, a simulated continuous shot because you know, like
- 1:04:05you know, film buffs know that it's linked together through camera and editing trickery,
- 1:04:13but it's still, you know, incredibly impressive. Now, John,
- 1:04:16you know what do you think that brings that? Do you think that was
- 1:04:21unnecessary to have a seven minute long simulated shot? What do you think what
- 1:04:27do you think it brought to the film? Did you think it added suspense?
- 1:04:30Did or did you think it was just showing off? No? I
- 1:04:32think it definitely serves the It serves the build of tension and showing how oppressive
- 1:04:40it is in that sequence because of the fact that you're used to as an
- 1:04:46audience member things cutting away and it gives you sort of a sense of relief.
- 1:04:50You're switching perspective, you're switching who you're with, you're switching, and
- 1:04:54you can sort of intellectually distance yourself. I think it's a much more visceral
- 1:04:58way to have you go through a s situation like that. So it definitely
- 1:05:01winds up when, for instance, everything quiets down and they're walking out with
- 1:05:06the baby, it's jarring in a completely different way because the way that's sort
- 1:05:13of more traditionally handled is cut and they walk out of a room and cut
- 1:05:16to somebody looking a certain way and cut to them walking out, Whereas this
- 1:05:20is going along and you're like, because the momentum has never shifted in the
- 1:05:25sense that you don't get that relief cut, you wind up still tense through
- 1:05:30the whole thing. It importantly gives that sense of they're not out of danger.
- 1:05:36A lot of movies would have punched out at that point and been like,
- 1:05:40look, we're gonna be okay sort of thing, whereas this is like,
- 1:05:44no, this is still a very active, dangerous situation that they're in.
- 1:05:47And because it never looks away from that sort of you know, continuous
- 1:05:53move that allows that tension to continually transfer over. It's sort of like what
- 1:05:59Zimmer did with the Joker's theme in The Dark Night, where it's a note
- 1:06:02that never resolves itself. It kind of does when things shift, but like
- 1:06:06the note itself never comes to an appropriate end, and so you're just always
- 1:06:11like, what's what's happening, what's going on? It just instantly makes you
- 1:06:14unsettled. And Ludwig Gordonson took that to the extreme with Oppenheimer. Y took
- 1:06:23what Zimmer did and just ran with it. Stood on the shoulder of giants
- 1:06:26there, Darren. So you mentioned the CG earlier on. You talked about
- 1:06:33like CG replacement and everything like that, and I feel like, before I
- 1:06:39ask you the question, I feel like Alfonso Korn is a minimalist when it
- 1:06:43comes to CG, Like he wants to use a minimal amount of CG,
- 1:06:46like like when we camera where possible? Yeah, in camera where possible?
- 1:06:50And he completely abandons that with the next movie Gravity with Prisoner of Azkaban,
- 1:06:58you know, like it was filled with CG, but at the same time
- 1:07:00he was just like, where can we go practical? What can we do
- 1:07:02with it's real and camera and everything like that. When you were watching Children
- 1:07:06of Men this time due to the age. And this isn't a criticism of
- 1:07:11the film, really, it's really just kind of like where we are today
- 1:07:14in twenty twenty three as of this recording. Did you find some of the
- 1:07:17CGI distracting or did you feel like it aged well? No, I think
- 1:07:25it aged particularly well. I want to go back and rewatch. I saw
- 1:07:30a behind the scenes that was talking about the road ambush scene, and I'm
- 1:07:35pretty sure there's no top in that car. Like they literally had the top
- 1:07:41removed of the car, and so they had their camera come in and crane
- 1:07:45up and down and do all the movements, and then they digitally added the
- 1:07:49roof of the car later to accomplish a show. It was something like that.
- 1:07:57The camera is actually was actually a part of the roof's and what I'm
- 1:08:00thinking of, and it's there they modified the interior. For all of you
- 1:08:05who are listening who haven't seen the behind these scenes of Children Men, you
- 1:08:10absolutely should because the ambush scene is a technical feat in itself. I mean,
- 1:08:15like everybody talks about the battle scene because it's over seven minutes long of
- 1:08:18a simulated winner, but the ambush scene is insane craftsmanship which is still really
- 1:08:26long, which is still a very long take. But once you realize,
- 1:08:30once you see where the camera is inside the car and it's a small car
- 1:08:34filled with five people, and it's the camera is moving. It's it's not
- 1:08:41just rotating around, it's actually moving back and forth as well. And so
- 1:08:45these actors, while you know, saying their lines, emoting, reacting when
- 1:08:50the camera is not on them, they're throwing themselves backwards in the car,
- 1:08:56in the seats so that the camera can move around them. And then they're
- 1:08:59when the camera is about to get on them, they throw their seat back
- 1:09:01up and they all have to do this wall of moting and it's just it's
- 1:09:05brilliance. It's a choreographed dance. Thank you, Darren. Yeah, it's
- 1:09:10amazing. It's amazing. Yeah, like you said, interested, I like
- 1:09:15the The Road Ambush better than I mean, yeah, the finale, the
- 1:09:20battle is amazing, and it's kind of the emotional climax of the movie,
- 1:09:25so I think it gets more of the praise. But I think what they
- 1:09:30pull off with The Road Ambush is way more interesting. And you're just because
- 1:09:35it's kind of the first time things go sideways, like the like you have
- 1:09:41the explosion and on the cafe and other things are going on, but like
- 1:09:45that's where literally stuff's hitting the fan and it's it's going really bad, really
- 1:09:49fast. So yeah, and we lose Julianne Moore's character. It's like,
- 1:09:55oh, guess she's not gonna be on the rest of the movie, and
- 1:09:57you're like, oh my gosh. It almost felt like, I know this
- 1:10:00is an extreme example, but Drew Barrymore in Scream, I know, you're
- 1:10:04like all the posters and the trailers and everything like that shows her and she's
- 1:10:09just killed at the beginning. No, julian Moore is not at the beginning,
- 1:10:11but still you think she's going to be a major part of the movie.
- 1:10:15There was another moment where I felt more tension than in previous watches,
- 1:10:19even though I know it wasn't going to happen. But when they're when Michael
- 1:10:25Caine and Clive Owen are just shooting the breeze as they're uncovering the secret turn
- 1:10:29off the road, I know no one's gonna come around the corner, but
- 1:10:32I'm like petrified that, like they're taking their sweet time, and this is
- 1:10:38not the type of country where you take your time revealing the path to the
- 1:10:43bat cave. You got to get in real fast, cover it back up
- 1:10:46because you don't want to be discovered. And obviously that is what happens.
- 1:10:50But yeah, I felt I'm like, wow, why do I feel so
- 1:10:53much tension in this like exposition dump chat where because they're just taking their take
- 1:11:00it too long? John, I have a question for you. Yeah.
- 1:11:05You know, with this movie, one of my favorite things and I'm not
- 1:11:11prepping this so that you say it's your favorite thing, but one of my
- 1:11:13favorite things was the perspective of this movie, the perspective of Clive Owen's character,
- 1:11:17THEO. Every single thing in this movie, apart from maybe one moment,
- 1:11:23is told from Theo's perspective visually and cinematically. That was one thing I
- 1:11:29really really enjoyed it. I saw this with the buddy of mine and as
- 1:11:31we were walking out, he asked me, you know, what's the thing
- 1:11:34that you like most about the movie? I said, I was like,
- 1:11:36Oh, it's completely told from Theo's perspective, Like, don't we only know
- 1:11:40what he knows? We only see what he sees, we only hear what
- 1:11:43he sees, will only hear what he hears? And my buddy was just
- 1:11:45like, oh damn, you're right. That changed my whole perspective on stuff.
- 1:11:49But what did you think about that implementation of that perspective? Do you
- 1:11:56think it added to the documentary feel or did you feel like we were missing
- 1:12:00out on something? What did you think of that whole perspective of Theo's this
- 1:12:06being Theo's movie and the audience being along for the ride. Well, here
- 1:12:11comes the growner reveal that I hinted at in the beginning, right, because
- 1:12:16what I realized well first and foremost to speak to that point, I think
- 1:12:19it's very necessary, especially when you have this sort of like dystopian fantasy that's
- 1:12:24going on, is it shrinks the world to a believable level, right because
- 1:12:30all of the extra stuff that they give you in movies and stuff. Again,
- 1:12:33it's a distancing thing, whether it intends to or not, But all
- 1:12:36of that world building stuff is fine, but it makes it much more experiential,
- 1:12:44much more relatable, much more understandable. If you have it where all
- 1:12:48you're getting is a singular perspective, the way you'd have it in that situation
- 1:12:54allows you to graft yourself onto that main character a lot more fluidly, I
- 1:13:00guess and get you know, basically build that necessary connection with the protagonist.
- 1:13:05But while I was watching it, what I realized what really tickles me about
- 1:13:10it is the fact that what I was reminded of were films like honestly,
- 1:13:16Soilent Green and The Omega Man, and even to an extent, Logan's Run,
- 1:13:25those sort of dystopian future things like this is part of the film cycle,
- 1:13:30and I'm like, well, was this about the right time for this
- 1:13:32to show back up? I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
- 1:13:33this is about the And the thing is the world building that's done is
- 1:13:36not too far off from Soilent Green, which is a terribly underrated film.
- 1:13:43It's definitely a product of its time, but a lot of people just know
- 1:13:45the punchline and they forget that there's a real impetus. The book that Soiling
- 1:13:51Green's based on is garbage, so don't read it. But like it made
- 1:13:56it kind of a strange experience this time, because I didn't really see it
- 1:14:00in that light the first time I watched it. But I think that that
- 1:14:03is also a necessary element of that apocalyptic sci fi sort of thing for it
- 1:14:11to work the way that this one does you need to have that limited worldview
- 1:14:16so that you're much more in the moment, so that you feel the confusion,
- 1:14:20dismay, and struggle of the character to try to make sense of everything
- 1:14:25that's going on. So, did you feel like this movie had too much
- 1:14:30exposition not enough exposition? Do you feel like I had just the right What
- 1:14:34do you think? No, I don't think it had too much, but
- 1:14:36not by a long shot. The odd thing, and I think this has
- 1:14:42more to do with the sort of like the sustained tension is the movie is
- 1:14:49itself is not what I would classify as a long movie, but this is
- 1:14:54a tight hour for five. Yeah, but it wears you out in such
- 1:14:58a way that it feels like you were there for longer than that, which
- 1:15:00is both a good thing in the sense that like you feel like you've really
- 1:15:03been through it, but is unfortunate in the sense that it's a little bit
- 1:15:09disorienting because you are left with with some of those disconnected questions, like there
- 1:15:15there are some things I would have actually liked to hear fleshed out a little
- 1:15:19bit more. It's like, you know, sort of like how did we
- 1:15:24get here? Sort of thing would have been nice to have because Jasper is
- 1:15:28obviously the older character, you know, and he does that, he hints
- 1:15:31it like sort of the before times sort of thing, but he's I would
- 1:15:36I would have wanted. I don't know where i'd place it. I don't
- 1:15:42know if it's really a tangible sort of thing, but it's And I'm not
- 1:15:45knocking the film as because of it. I'm just saying, like it's it's
- 1:15:50a disorienting thing because the film feels longer than it is it does, so
- 1:15:56that that's just what's weird. And the thing is, maybe I just want
- 1:15:59more time with j Asper because I really loved him as a character. I
- 1:16:02really it was fun to see Michael Caine. This is one of those performances
- 1:16:08from Cain where you can tell he's having as much fun with it as anybody
- 1:16:12else. Is. This isn't Michael Kain showing up and saying, bloody good,
- 1:16:15thanks for the paycheck, I'll show myself out. This is Michael Kain
- 1:16:18showing up and saying, oh, this is this is this is interesting.
- 1:16:21I can do something Because I think he based his character on John Lennon,
- 1:16:25who he knew personally, and so like that's the inspiration for the character.
- 1:16:28So in a sense, I think that gives Jasper even more of a like
- 1:16:31I didn't know John Lennon, but if that's sort of who John Lennon was
- 1:16:36that Michael kin knew, I'm like, oh, that guy was actually a
- 1:16:39lot more chill than I thought he was. You know, yeah, I
- 1:16:44mean Michael Kaine as Jasper was an absolute treat every single time. It's interesting
- 1:16:49because you want to spend more time with him, but at this with that
- 1:16:55in mind, though, it kind of is reminiscent of Clive Owen talking with
- 1:16:58Jasper, where Jasper says, you know, you could always just move in
- 1:17:00with us, but then THEO says, yeah, but then I would have
- 1:17:03nothing to look forward to. And I kind of that's how I kind of
- 1:17:08feel about Jasper's character, where he's in it just enough for you to really
- 1:17:12love the interactions. You're sad he's gone, when you're sad he's gone,
- 1:17:15but but you you weren't inundated with him. And one of the like you
- 1:17:21know I mentioned before about the about the perspectives of Leo. The only thing
- 1:17:26that kind of deviates away from that is when we see Jasper go into his
- 1:17:30own home and he brings out the quietest and Ye's like, but that's it,
- 1:17:34right, that's it I can think of. That's just not Clive Owen.
- 1:17:40And it's a woner where we still see Clive Owen in the shot,
- 1:17:44like he starts the shot and Clive Owen drives off and the camera tracks back,
- 1:17:48and so it's not like it's completely void. It's not like we're cutting
- 1:17:51to a different location at a different time. He was still just there.
- 1:17:56And even when we see Jasper die, it's from Theo's perspective from the woods.
- 1:18:00And I love that Jasper went out like a like a jackass. He
- 1:18:04said. He's like, He's like I'm gonna you know, it's like if
- 1:18:06if I'm gonna if I'm gonna go down, I'm you know, like I'm
- 1:18:10gonna go down as a smart ass. And it's so true to the character.
- 1:18:14Now, Darren, what did you think of the characterizations? Because we
- 1:18:17have a lot of unique people here. We have we have THEO, we
- 1:18:23have Julian, we have chilta Ege of four as Luke, you know,
- 1:18:26Michael Kane's Jasper. We have Miriam, we have key Uh, we got
- 1:18:31Charlie Hunum as the freakin' bastard Patrick. We got so many different types of
- 1:18:38people here, Like, what did you think about this mismash of people and
- 1:18:42the people who played them? Yeah, I mean it was also interesting because
- 1:18:45it I think if there's anything that dates it, and it's not in a
- 1:18:49bad way, but it's who was kind of popular in six, Like this
- 1:18:55feels like an O six movie, not because of the CG or or even
- 1:19:00the story, it's kind of who is the lead in it? Because yeah,
- 1:19:03these are all kind of like they were very popular. You could see
- 1:19:06them in this level budget of this level type of movie, you know,
- 1:19:12six, it makes total sense. But yeah, I I mean you want
- 1:19:16to talk We've talked a lot about protagonist confusion. There is no protagonist confusion
- 1:19:21in this movie. You know whose story it is, and I know we
- 1:19:26touched on like that perspective, especially kind of the documentarian style and how that
- 1:19:31really just draws you in. But yeah, as far as the other characters,
- 1:19:36I love how they're not safe, like many of them, I think
- 1:19:43almost all of them die throughout the course of this story, and so that
- 1:19:48makes you start to value I think once Julian Moore dies, you're like,
- 1:19:51oh, oh, it's going to be that kind of a movie where anybody
- 1:19:57could die for apparently no reason, because that's life in this crazy world.
- 1:20:01So yeah, you start to be like, oh, no, Jasper,
- 1:20:04Jasper no, because you know that's coming, because it's like, well,
- 1:20:09who's the one he's made most of a connection with, Even just leaving to
- 1:20:14Theo's death at the very end, well just spoilers, but just thinking of
- 1:20:18the fact that one of the world building things that I enjoy is there are
- 1:20:27little touches that make it feel more rooted in some of you know, even
- 1:20:32the little touches that we see in the real world. Because naming the suicide
- 1:20:36kits that they're sending the people quietus, I'm like, yeah, that exactly
- 1:20:42sounds like some jackass sitting in a room being like, oh it's a suicide
- 1:20:45kit. Hey like hamlet quietus. Yeah, let's do that. Oh yeah,
- 1:20:49high fives all around guys, And it's like it's one of those things
- 1:20:53where it's like, you know, yeah, like that's just such a middle
- 1:21:00finger sort of. I do want to praise it for how it builds this
- 1:21:04future world. It it dodges a lot of the the cringey tropes you get
- 1:21:10of creating false futures, like there's no slang term for the refugees, they're
- 1:21:18just refugees or they call which wasn't just a basically okay, yes, thinking
- 1:21:29I thought that would mean like something that was Actually you could have used any
- 1:21:32other example and would have been right, but you chose the one, the
- 1:21:36one slang that came up with. Well okay. Well then I will say,
- 1:21:40though that fuji felt so natural that it didn't pull me out, like
- 1:21:45you know what I mean, We've all seen these future movies where they're like,
- 1:21:48oh yeah, and then we're gonna go get the stems and go over
- 1:21:53to the to the rollbacks, and it's like what you just you're making up
- 1:21:56stuff, you're throwing things at the screen, and this was in the way
- 1:21:59way back, and this is all just shale, you know, like,
- 1:22:00oh gosh, it's so shall I hate you. But although I will say,
- 1:22:06as having teenage kids, that the slang terms that are coming and going
- 1:22:11with alarming rapidity, now it's we might have to reassess this because it's I
- 1:22:17agree, it's crazy. But the problem with nicknames and slaying is you can
- 1:22:24never get it right. You can never like you're always guessing, and society
- 1:22:29doesn't evolve like that, and so we have no contact, so it doesn't
- 1:22:32it doesn't fit. But I mean I think you, I think you really
- 1:22:38hte it because one thing that I really focus on is the technology where it's
- 1:22:42not insane, you know, like this was this was came out in two
- 1:22:45thousand and six newspapers and street signs and that's about it. That's as like
- 1:22:50as fans. Well, I'll say the screens in their office were pretty badass.
- 1:22:55I like those, I won't. Yeah, And and on top of
- 1:22:59that, they they avoided a trope that I can't friggin stand is that whenever
- 1:23:03you show a screen in the future, you can see it from both sides,
- 1:23:08which but it's flipped and you're just like, no, I don't want
- 1:23:12people to see what I'm looking at just mirrored on the other side. It
- 1:23:16would masier though, so just and that's the thing is that, like the
- 1:23:23screens were just a little cooler, and there was more LED advertisements all over
- 1:23:27town. That's pretty Minority Report level of advancement, Like I know, think
- 1:23:33I think it was even I think it was even smarter than Minority Report.
- 1:23:36Way smarter, way smarter than I rolle because it wasn't throwing flying things.
- 1:23:43Once you start throwing flying things, then you've made a jump like hover this
- 1:23:48and drone that. And I didn't see any of that. It was like
- 1:23:51we use bullets and guns like God intended to kill each other. And also
- 1:23:56on top of I mean like you can also take it take a look at
- 1:23:59it and kind of like the Star Wars angle like compared to the prequels where
- 1:24:02technology is stagnant because of a fascist regime where you know, like things don't
- 1:24:09excel because you know, like the you know your money's going to other places.
- 1:24:12Your money's not going to innovation, your money's going to survival. Well,
- 1:24:15and also I think it's desire. Nobody has a desire to advance anything
- 1:24:20because it's helpless. Why why maybe why would I think, well if the
- 1:24:26yeah, if the entire planet is dying, you know it would actually be
- 1:24:32it would actually be you'reilled together a lot pretty well for eighteen years of like
- 1:24:38armed like that. That's that's the one thing I think that undercuts sort of
- 1:24:42like this, Oh the future is so believable because I think by year ten,
- 1:24:45like chips are on the table, like it's it shows over at that
- 1:24:48point. If there's ten years and no kid is born on the face of
- 1:24:51the planet, nah, it's it's done. Like you're not making it eighteen
- 1:24:56years into this like that. The the because is the one thing that keeps
- 1:25:01anybody, even in wartime situation, from going as hog wild as you know,
- 1:25:06we think sometimes it's because of that natural limitter about tomorrow where it's like,
- 1:25:12okay, well I could nuke everything today, but then there's nothing for
- 1:25:15me to rule tomorrow, so I won't use the news. Nothing for my
- 1:25:16kids, like kids are a major part of our psyche of something better tomorrow.
- 1:25:24Two. Okay too. I'm not saying you guys are wrong, because
- 1:25:27you make some very solid points, but like to play Deadvill's Advocate just a
- 1:25:30little bit because of that isolated perspective of what you're talking about, John,
- 1:25:35you know, like we're on one island. You know, we're Britain.
- 1:25:39It's just like that's it. Like they even say like at the beginning,
- 1:25:42you know, like you know, Britain soldiers on, Like everybody else has
- 1:25:44fallen, but Britain has soldiers on. Because they talk like if you read
- 1:25:47some of the newspaper headlines like Africa was nuked, like Africa's gone, and
- 1:25:54and like Russia has fallen, like you know, like basically all the immigrants
- 1:25:58from Asia moved to Russia, then Russia into Europe and that's why Britain shut
- 1:26:02down immigration. And like there's a conversation that Julian and THEO have where like
- 1:26:09they haven't spoken in twenty years, but THEO says like, like, hey,
- 1:26:13you know where your parents in New York when it happened. She's like,
- 1:26:15yeah, they were, and that's all the information we got. That's
- 1:26:19you know, you know what, That's an excellent point. I suppose.
- 1:26:24Then my question becomes, how why the hell with Britain have survived? But
- 1:26:27it's okay, It's okay it needs to for the movie. But that that's
- 1:26:31a valid point. It's got another better, I think. I think that's
- 1:26:33a I think that's a valid counterpoint. But yeah, but I mean,
- 1:26:39I guess my counterpoint to that is I I just see everything in like there
- 1:26:43is nothing to stand walls up two or four or anything. By that point,
- 1:26:45I think, I think because it's a literal island, it helps.
- 1:26:50And also because I mean, they ruled one of the longest running empires.
- 1:26:54Of all time. You know, maybe they have a little bit of they
- 1:26:56have a cheat code. I don't know. Well, they didn't have an
- 1:27:00off of a cheat code to have it be the BBC that's broadcasting, so
- 1:27:02you know who knows that's true? How mean? I hated that one.
- 1:27:05No, it was b c C, b c C. I miss that
- 1:27:09because they didn't pay for the copyright. Its just I just wish they would
- 1:27:13have just hey, the extra money for God's sake. That's like what that's
- 1:27:17like when somebody's drinking and it's a can can sprint yes yes, yes,
- 1:27:25oh no I And the thing is that's one of those shots where like I
- 1:27:29see b c C and I'm like, don't pay attention to it. Don't
- 1:27:31pay attention to it. Don't be that guy, that guy, don't be
- 1:27:33that guy CCN Like yes, yes, like I know that. Like I'm
- 1:27:41totally going in a different direction. But like we talked about Quietest earlier.
- 1:27:45One thing, one of my favorite lines is from Jasper when it's just like
- 1:27:48it's like, yeah, they're they're handing out Quietest uh and antidepressants with rations,
- 1:27:56but yet ganja is still illegal, right right? Yes, yeah,
- 1:28:01yes that is. But well something that would happen that speaks really truly to
- 1:28:10what Another one of the things that I think is great about Jasper's character is
- 1:28:15he really embodies that old school all governments suck sort of attitude, a rebel
- 1:28:21before the war kind of well, yeah, like he he, like Jasper,
- 1:28:27is the type of character that goes and I know I keep shining on
- 1:28:30Jasper here, but like Jasper is that kind of character that reminds you,
- 1:28:33especially with his age, that there's always been something to hate about what's going
- 1:28:38on. And he sort of hit that point where he's like, yeah,
- 1:28:41you know Wherel's on fire always has been sort of thing. Like he's he's
- 1:28:45hit that point where he's just comfortable with it. He's like, yeah,
- 1:28:46you know, run out of steam, it was bound to happen sort of
- 1:28:49thing. And it's in contrast to THEO who's going through just because paying any
- 1:28:59attention to it would cost too much. When he's forced to pay attention to
- 1:29:01it is when he has to leave work, he's like, it's affecting me
- 1:29:04a lot more than I thought. I have to go. But he cites
- 1:29:09the one thing that his boss knows is going to let him go. Right
- 1:29:12about the death of Diego. He's not. He doesn't come in and say,
- 1:29:17I almost got bombed to death today, right, Could I take a
- 1:29:21mental health day? He's like no, I think Baby Diego's affecting me as
- 1:29:26then the boss is like, well, yes, of course go. You
- 1:29:29get the sense in that moment that like almost dying in your coffee shop being
- 1:29:32bombed is not a reason to go home anymore. It's like, yeah,
- 1:29:35you know, it happens. You know what, That's okay, all right.
- 1:29:40I think that's a really good perspective. It's hilarious and sad, but
- 1:29:43I think that's a really good perspective on it because that's something that always bugged
- 1:29:45me where I'm just like, why would you you have the ultimate excuse,
- 1:29:50like you saw a woman hold her own arm in front of you. I
- 1:29:55think you can go home today. But he's like, nah, I'm sad
- 1:29:58from Baby Diego. The yes. Well, it's like it's like that's the
- 1:30:02socially acceptable thing to be upset about versus the actual like there was a bombing
- 1:30:09today, but that's not socially acceptable to complain. Speaking of the coffee shop
- 1:30:15bombing thing, I think that also shows some smart editing creative choices because it
- 1:30:20cuts off right right as she's walking out and we're still disoriented, and then
- 1:30:26it just picks up and we're like, wait, we didn't get that lingering
- 1:30:30scene of him walking through the devastation with a dazed look and the ringing in
- 1:30:34his ears and all of that type of stuff. It's I think it winds
- 1:30:38up underscoring the fact that it's like, this is a jarring, traumatic thing,
- 1:30:42but it's just a thing that happens, because then he's just going to
- 1:30:45work, or you could look at it choice because it's his perspective. He's
- 1:30:49already blacked it out, Like we don't get to see the aftermath because he's
- 1:30:54already suppressed that. I mean, I mean, it's really a little much
- 1:30:58into it. But yeah, just overall, I think they really nail the
- 1:31:05art of background exposition because it is because you're coupling it with the documentary style.
- 1:31:15I mean, yeah, there's a couple of like pans over the wall
- 1:31:17covered in newspaper clippings that are all very poignant to the plot. But you
- 1:31:23know what, hey, if Doc Brown can pan over clocks at the very
- 1:31:28beginning, you know of back to the future, like no, no,
- 1:31:30I think this one and like you guys said, like the whole New York
- 1:31:35thing, and they left us wanting more, which is much better. And
- 1:31:40then spoonfeed us no, and we didn't cut to like and now in the
- 1:31:45situation room with the president, he's going to talk about some peace treaty with
- 1:31:48the Middle East that has nothing to do with this plot. But we just
- 1:31:53needed to have more knowledge of what is the government like, No, no,
- 1:31:57we don't need to know that. We don't need to know we bye
- 1:32:00by. Like you said, keeping it a smaller story, I mean,
- 1:32:03it's a it's a big day for this guy. It's a very I wouldn't
- 1:32:06say small story, but it's a very tight local radius for what is going
- 1:32:14on, almost like an episode of twenty four. Really, it kind of
- 1:32:16felt like that, like today's the day it all went bad. Yeah,
- 1:32:21it only takes place over the course of like three days or something anytime.
- 1:32:26Yeah, And I love stories like that that happen really tight, and it
- 1:32:31was I love I love it when the exposition is in the air. I
- 1:32:35love when it's not just like and this happened, then this happened, then
- 1:32:38this happened. And I think Alfonso Gron even talked about that in interviews about
- 1:32:45how you know, like I don't want to be held hostage by exposition,
- 1:32:48and I don't want I don't want I want people to think about it.
- 1:32:51I don't want people. I don't want to spoon feed it to the audience.
- 1:32:54It's it's something like I think he called it, like when you have
- 1:32:58too much exposition. It's like having lazy readers go to the cinema or something
- 1:33:02to that effect. And he's absolutely right. He's absolutely right. We don't
- 1:33:08need to have a five point power point presentation of what happened in New York,
- 1:33:13the scrolling text after the bombs fell, and no, that would have
- 1:33:18been terrible. Oh my, Well, this does have the very traditional sort
- 1:33:25of dystopian fantasy opening with a news clip in the beginning to set the stage
- 1:33:30for everything, but it's specifically about the one story, as opposed to like
- 1:33:35what you're talking about when you open with like I am Legend, where it's
- 1:33:40like, we're going to tell you the entire history of this whole thing that
- 1:33:43happened and the thing blah blah blah. It's like, no, it's we
- 1:33:46encounter it the way he encounters it in his day, which is going to
- 1:33:50get a cup of coffee. Everybody's watching the stuff and he's like, yeah,
- 1:33:53okay, I just want my coffee and go please. Well and again
- 1:33:56it's this is you know, like we said, it's three days, but
- 1:34:00in these three days you have the death of Baby Diego to the uprising like
- 1:34:04they mentioned, like, oh the uprising's happening. They haven't even seen the
- 1:34:10kid and they're uprising already. So those three days is like a pivotal moment
- 1:34:15in the history of Britain. This is also what sets apart this in terms
- 1:34:19of like that dystopian genre, is you roll the dice on whether you find
- 1:34:27out that Baby Diego was an imposter and the real one had died years before.
- 1:34:31Like a lot of times with these sorts of movies, you find out
- 1:34:35that Baby Diego, like that character that conceit is hidden away somewhere and you
- 1:34:42find out that it's all been a lie to keep people pacified, because so
- 1:34:45long as Baby Diego was alive, people would be happy with it. Again,
- 1:34:48getting back to it, like the soylent green sort of thing, so
- 1:34:50long as you don't know how the sausage is made, you'll eat the sausage
- 1:34:54sort of thing. And so I'm paying the movie a great compliment in the
- 1:34:59fact that never the the mission that the protagonist goes on is one that is
- 1:35:05worthwhile, with no detour to find out that there's some sort of like hidden
- 1:35:11subterfuge piece to what we saw earlier. Like it's just it's it's a very
- 1:35:16linear story. We don't have these twists and turns through conspiracy Land or anything
- 1:35:23like that. Yeah, yeah, it was. Yeah, I don't think
- 1:35:27it was needed. I think we learned only what we needed to learn from
- 1:35:31Theo's perspective, from Jewel to egy of four's character, and you know,
- 1:35:36he like an uprising is going to happen, you know, like that's what
- 1:35:40he that's what he was pushing for. He wanted the uprising to happen,
- 1:35:43and Julian didn't and she was killed for it, and that's all we needed
- 1:35:46to know. Well, yeah, and that those twists, because not only
- 1:35:51did I watch this, but I watched a couple there's a couple of YouTube
- 1:35:56channels that do commentary, are not commentary but review of you know, millennials
- 1:36:00that have never seen X, which there's a lot of millennials that have never
- 1:36:03seen certain movies, but that twist of like when you realize that the the
- 1:36:13hijacking on the road was like planned by the same group that rescued them,
- 1:36:17and you're like, oh, dang, we are in trouble, Like we
- 1:36:21are not safe. Like that is the most disconcerting part of almost the whole
- 1:36:26movie of like who you thought was the refuge is really like your your your
- 1:36:31days are numbered at that point. And what a scene where when they're trying
- 1:36:38to escape the farm and they're trying to jump start the car. I mean,
- 1:36:42the tension just oh my gosh, it's so slow but yet it's so
- 1:36:47tense at the same time. But it's it's so believable because he gets enough
- 1:36:53momentum to go down the hill. So it's easy for a heavy car to
- 1:36:56go down the hill, but it takes a lot of time for you know,
- 1:37:00people to run down the hill. And one dude, he was booking
- 1:37:03it. He was just like and if he if he disobeyed our orders,
- 1:37:09you know, Clive Owen would have been gone. But you know, like
- 1:37:12he I thought it was poetic justice that THEO pushed out the car door on
- 1:37:17him again like you did when he was on the motorcycle. I thought that
- 1:37:21was perfect. It was poetic and h and he hits that haystack hard,
- 1:37:29Like I kind of want to know how they did that because it looked like
- 1:37:32Charlie Hunham, but I severely doubt it was, you know, like when
- 1:37:36who hit the haystack? But anyway, it's just it's Patrick. But yeah,
- 1:37:42like with that scene, it's just it's so great. And I love
- 1:37:45how smart THEO was with like taking out the you know, like taking out
- 1:37:48the car parts to make sure that they you know, they can't be followed
- 1:37:51by every car. And I love how in that moment he's pushing the car
- 1:37:58and the two the two guards are there and you're like in the audience is
- 1:38:01like, wait, they're there, what are you doing? What are you
- 1:38:03doing? Like they're right in front of you, and all of them know
- 1:38:08like it's now or never. Either we do it now. There's not going
- 1:38:11to be a oh, let's just back up into the garage and wait thirty
- 1:38:15minutes, Like no, you got to strike because once they know you're trying
- 1:38:18to escape, it's over. You have the element of surprise, and once
- 1:38:21you lose that, it's much harder exactly and that actually leads me to another
- 1:38:27thing where earlier in the movie we hear Chulty, each of Four's character say,
- 1:38:32you know, don't use that car that needs to be jumpstarted. That
- 1:38:35was one thing I really really liked about this movie is that nothing came out
- 1:38:41of nowhere. This everything was thought out. Everything there was no Chekhov's gun
- 1:38:47was utilized very properly for this movie. And even about getting on a boat,
- 1:38:51and they get on a boat at the end, it's not like,
- 1:38:55why are we on a boat at the end? Like, No, we
- 1:38:57talked about that. We talked about everything. And also like it took me
- 1:39:00a couple of watches to realize this, but one of the like because it
- 1:39:05was always a question of how on earth did they find Jasper's hideout. But
- 1:39:10at the beginning of the film, and you don't know this until you rewatch
- 1:39:14it, one of the fishes was following theo at the beginning of the film
- 1:39:17when he was on the bus going to Jasper's, so they knew where he
- 1:39:21was going and that's how they were able to find him. You know.
- 1:39:25The movie is just filled with stuff like that, and I just I really
- 1:39:29appreciate how thought out everything is and I think to bring it back to Coron
- 1:39:35because this is a director based podcast. You know, like when you look
- 1:39:40at all of the one shots that he loves, which we saw in previous
- 1:39:43movies like Prisoner of Azkaban and Great Expectations, you have to plan this out.
- 1:39:48With Children of Men, it took days upon days, and it took
- 1:39:53out like five hours to reset a shot for the battle sequence, just and
- 1:39:58I think only one time were they able to do all of it, Like
- 1:40:00only one one take was usable for for like one of the battle shots,
- 1:40:05and it was It just goes to show that he is an expert craftsman of
- 1:40:12putting everything on screen. It's just like he has to plan for the day,
- 1:40:15he has to plan for the shot, and he plans for the story.
- 1:40:17Well, don't disagree with a single thing. I agree with all of
- 1:40:20that. What I what strikes what strikes me with Children of Men is I
- 1:40:27see Quaron become the director I know him to be now, whereas with the
- 1:40:31three we looked at previously, he's very much he's warming up and in a
- 1:40:35sense, I think that we all owe Prisoner of Azkaban a lot of thanks
- 1:40:45because I think that's what unlocks the ability and gives him the comfort to learn
- 1:40:51how to use all of those tools. Because pre Prisoner of Azkaban, I
- 1:40:55do not see the director who pulls this off. After Prisoner of Azkaban,
- 1:40:59I see a guy who sat there and paid really close attention to how you
- 1:41:01set this stuff up and said, Okay, I know what I'm going to
- 1:41:04do with this. And I think it's huge to make that leap because I
- 1:41:12can trace now with the movies that we looked at. I don't see his
- 1:41:15first two movies that we looked at leading to this per se Visually, yes,
- 1:41:20you know, I'm visually yes, performing, so all of those sorts
- 1:41:25of things. But then Prisoner of Azkaban is where you see somebody come in
- 1:41:28and say, oh, oh cool, look what I can do. Okay,
- 1:41:31and then he comes to it and he says, all right, well,
- 1:41:33I don't want to be in the wizarding world now, I want to
- 1:41:35be in the real world. How do I make this work? And it's
- 1:41:38like, I think it's revelatory. I think Children of Men with the technical
- 1:41:44wizardry and the solid, solid story and performances. My biggest question I'm left
- 1:41:50with at the end of it is why it didn't connect with audiences enough to
- 1:41:55become Now, I would never see this becoming a blockbuster. This isn't going
- 1:41:58to be like an eight hundred fifty mills and doubled. But I don't I
- 1:42:00don't understand why I didn't at least double its budget sort of thing like this
- 1:42:04is exactly the sort of thing that should have found an enduring sci fi audience
- 1:42:11at the very least. I don't remember enough about the landscape of when it
- 1:42:14was released. Maybe there's some sort of explanation there. I took a look
- 1:42:17at movies that came out in two thousand and six, because this for this
- 1:42:21day in O six, this was Christmas Day in O six, December twenty
- 1:42:26fifth, in six, Yeah, wan, I mean, which means they
- 1:42:30knew that they were going for awards with it. I mean, we all
- 1:42:33know the Christmas Day release is one of two things. We think we can
- 1:42:36make a lot of money off of families or we're gonna get oscars And you're
- 1:42:40past the uh like Lord of the Rings era, like that's done by six
- 1:42:46earlier, there's earlier this year Departed and Prestige came out. Okay, yeah,
- 1:42:54but you also have Okay, the top ten films of two thousand and
- 1:42:57six, Pirates of the Caribbean at Man's Chest. I was at the second
- 1:43:01or the third one. I don't remember. Who gives a ship Da Vinci,
- 1:43:04Code ice Age, The Meltdown, Casino Royale is in the mix o
- 1:43:11Night at the Museum, Cars X Men, The Last Stand, Mission Impossible,
- 1:43:16Three Superman Returns, and Happy Feet. That's not a that's not a
- 1:43:23Children of Men friendly for children of landscape right there. No, it's not,
- 1:43:28it's not at all. Yeah. It was nominated for three Academy Awards
- 1:43:31adapt its Best Play, Cinematography, and Editing, and did not win any
- 1:43:35of them. Who won for cinematography that year? Do you do you have
- 1:43:39it handy? Or can can you? Yeah? Can you look that up?
- 1:43:43Well? While we're talking here, one thing that well, Darren,
- 1:43:46while you're looking that up, one thing I do want to Okay, I'm
- 1:43:54not even I'm not even gonna pretend that we're gonna We're just gonna I'm gonna
- 1:43:59ask you that question again, and I'm gonna cut this out, and then
- 1:44:00you're just gonna know automatically, I was gonna do a whole thing about Danny
- 1:44:11Houston. Okay, you're muted. No, you're muted. You are ready?
- 1:44:15Okay, Okay, who won for Best Cinematography? Do you know that
- 1:44:19pans Labyrinth? So? Oh god, Okay, that did not No,
- 1:44:25that did not deserve that. Screw that. No, but I get why
- 1:44:28it was, like, it's not one of those ones where Black Dahlia,
- 1:44:30Children of Men, The Illusionist and The Prestige The Illusionist. Yeah, which
- 1:44:35was it that kind of like the Prestige Light. I can't remember that one.
- 1:44:39It's it's not It's not as bad as people think it is. It's
- 1:44:43not as good as you're trying to portray either. What. No, I'm
- 1:44:45not saying that. I'm not saying it's good. It's just like people if
- 1:44:48Pristige it's not terrible. That's the tagline for The Illusionist is it's not terrible?
- 1:44:55All Right. I can't argue with that. I think that's pretty accurate.
- 1:44:59Who won for Best Editing? Because it was the wrong choice? Oh
- 1:45:03my gosh. The editing on this is perfect, like especially with you know
- 1:45:06you talked about this earlier in the film. But just like when he cuts
- 1:45:10the Children of Men the opening title and I love that Kron he has the
- 1:45:13opening title and the closing title like it that's that's kind of his signature,
- 1:45:16and it kind of leads me to there's one comment that I wanted to make
- 1:45:20is that this movie has is unflinching with its violence, but it is not
- 1:45:26gratuitous with his violence. Pam's Labyrinth gratuitous with his violence. But Children of
- 1:45:32Men it shows you what violence actually looks like without you know, like you
- 1:45:39without shoving it in your face, like when you see Sid get smacked in
- 1:45:43the face with a car battery, Like that's what it would look like if
- 1:45:45someone got smacked in the face with a car battery, or when Jasper was
- 1:45:48shot through the hand, you know, things like that. But we're not
- 1:45:53we're not lingering on it. So for best editing, it was The Departed.
- 1:45:59Oh okay, well, it's hard to argue with Thelma Shootemaker. Well,
- 1:46:02I mean, of the of the mix, I probably would have gone
- 1:46:04with United ninety three, honestly, because I thought that movie was just that
- 1:46:09movie is edited so well you don't even notice that there's no music in it,
- 1:46:12like it's just it. Okay, fine, No, See the thing
- 1:46:15is what I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it, so I can't
- 1:46:17comment on it, pot I that's just look, do I think it's better
- 1:46:21than Children of Men? Know, but if there's one on the list that
- 1:46:26you're going to give it to this, not Children of Men, I would
- 1:46:28have given it to United ninety three of the ones. I didn't see Blood
- 1:46:31Diamond, but I saw the I saw The Departed, I saw Babel,
- 1:46:34I saw Children of Men, and I saw United ninety three Children of Men.
- 1:46:39I don't know what criteria they were using not to I mean, you
- 1:46:43know, awards shows are pointless anyway. I mean, of the Departed won
- 1:46:46four awards and Pans won three, so it was kind of sweeping up.
- 1:46:53Now, I'm just curious about Best Adapted Screenplay, and the winner was that
- 1:46:59Departed. Okay, all right, that's fair. I mean I for the
- 1:47:03longest time I said that Children of Men, like I was on a high
- 1:47:05with this movie, and for the longest time I said that Children Men was
- 1:47:09the best movie they came out in two thousand and six, up against Departed
- 1:47:13and Prestige, and that that's tough. That is tough because those are three
- 1:47:17fantastic films. Yeah, yeah, all right, Well, I think we're
- 1:47:24at that point. It's closing time. And I want to know how many
- 1:47:29Darren, how many CGI babies are you? Are you giving this film?
- 1:47:32That's true. I had thought of that, but that totally makes sense that
- 1:47:35they at least a doll, because there's no way you can do a wonner
- 1:47:41with a real baby and hope it works out. It's like, oh,
- 1:47:45it was all good except for the last thirty seconds where the baby threw up.
- 1:47:48Yeah, well or coming out of the birth canal right, yeah,
- 1:47:55all right, let's time it, folks. We got one shot. But
- 1:47:59no, I mean I I m h you always pick me first, which
- 1:48:05makes me no. I can't judge that I do always pick first. I
- 1:48:09don't know why I do that. That's all right, I can pause and
- 1:48:12we can go to John. No, no, no, I'm gonna I'm
- 1:48:14gonna give it a four. I'm gonna pause. We're gonna go to John.
- 1:48:18Well, I've given it. I'm just messing with I'm totally messing with
- 1:48:23you. No, I give it a four. Uh again, it's a
- 1:48:27really good movie. The reason I just don't give it a five is maybe
- 1:48:33it's a personal reason, but just I don't own it. I don't intend
- 1:48:39to regularly watch it. It's not a fun movie. It's a beautifully made
- 1:48:45movie. But yeah, Darren's not giving it a five. I'm giving it
- 1:48:50four CGI explosions. Let me go in verse of Darren's reasoning here and say
- 1:48:59that I think in anybody else's hands, this is a four because I think
- 1:49:02the underlying stuff is all there. I think that other directors could do something
- 1:49:09with this script in their own way that would be interesting and worth watching.
- 1:49:13I think that there is, you know, precedent for it in the genre.
- 1:49:16The thing that I always find uncomfortable is we've hit this phase that seems
- 1:49:24elongated. Because film goes in cycles. We haven't escaped from our post apocalyptic
- 1:49:30obsession this time, whereas by the time the late seventies were coming around,
- 1:49:34everybody was like, Okay, look I just want to go have a good
- 1:49:36time. Could we just sort of like light gap in so to come back
- 1:49:39in. Yeah, I feel like we're a little bit trapped in a rut
- 1:49:44in that way. But that's just me. I think it's you know,
- 1:49:46multifactorial, different landscape, all those sorts of things. But I think that
- 1:49:50while this would be a four, in other people's hands, it's a five,
- 1:49:55and it gets that extra star simply because those sequences that we were to
- 1:50:00talking about earlier are insane. I will gladly and with great joy and self
- 1:50:08satisfaction, award extra points for just being un effing touchable in terms of constructing
- 1:50:15things that are this complex. You deserve extra credit for that. That's like,
- 1:50:19this is the kid coming in and instead of doing what I did with
- 1:50:24turn papers, actually wrote more pages than necessary and spaced it without adding an
- 1:50:28extra point two between the lines. So like, this is an undeniable tour
- 1:50:34de force and it is revelatory because Quaron becomes who he's gonna be from that
- 1:50:42point forward right here. So yeah, this is a five This is a
- 1:50:47I'm with you, John, This is a five star film for me.
- 1:50:50This is a top ten film for me, Like this is in my personal
- 1:50:57top ten. I love this movie. Think it's perfectly crafted. There's not
- 1:51:01a single thing that I would change. And this movie, I think elevates
- 1:51:08Koran to the rank of master, you know, unlike Anakin. I think
- 1:51:12he achieved the rank of master here. And I know I'm joking, but
- 1:51:16I hate you both for making me go first and then being like you would
- 1:51:21be stupid, Darren, Have I have I ever once in our entire time
- 1:51:30doing this show together, I've always always backed you. Stand by your convictions,
- 1:51:35don't let us sway you. And that's why you will always go first
- 1:51:39swimming. And and just you know, I gave you the option even after
- 1:51:44you gave your rating. I said we're gonna pause and go to John and
- 1:51:46you refuted me, but regardless. Okay, so, but but that's the
- 1:51:50thing is that, like I I watched this movie today, Like I've seen
- 1:51:56this movie a lot, but I haven't seen it for years, and I
- 1:52:00I watched it today and I cried three times. And I'm man enough to
- 1:52:03admit it that I cried three times during this film. This emotionally resonated with
- 1:52:09me, and it always does. And even though I've seen it multiple times,
- 1:52:13I'm still emotionally affected by it. And I think that's sign of a
- 1:52:16great movie. And Qorn is just an expert craftsman, and I am so
- 1:52:21excited to see what he does in the future after what we've seen post Children
- 1:52:27of Men. And I cannot wait until we talk about next week with his
- 1:52:31next film, Darren, what is that next week We're going high above the
- 1:52:38Earth. Maybe a couple more wonners, with his out of this world take
- 1:52:42of gravity. Join the revolution, Join the net poltye