Children of Men (2006)

Let's get bummed. Back in 2006, the USA was deep in the 2nd term of George Bush II, aka the idiot king, and his 2nd Iraq war was raging. As a leftist, it felt like a total nightmare, but Alfonso Cuarón heard our cries. His Children of Men, a bleak dystopian manifesto, landed mostly with a thud when it was carelessly released on Christmas Day in 2006. A stellar cast helmed by Clive Owen and gorgeous cinematography via Emmanuel Lubzeki couldn't save this holiday humbug from financial failure. Accordingly, Children of Men instantly became a cult film among the Letterboxd set. Academics, film nerds, and art house scenesters all raved about the one-shots, the world-building, and the nihilism that mirrored their own. But how has that effuse praise aged after the Great Recession, Trump, and Covid. Has Cuarón's bleak vision been blurred by unstoppable climate change, social anarchy, and the new rise of fascism or has it merely been burned into our collective lens? Special Guest: Friend of podcast and Hollywood Insider, Ryan, joins us to discuss this sad boy opus.