My DVD pick this week is Alfonso Cuarón's sci-fi masterpiece Children of Men, which portrays the human race at a cynical juncture in time during which female infertility has all but ensured the world's end within the century. This a gripping, relentless, and utterly majestic cinematic voyage into a future world constructed in frighteningly believable detail with foreboding social overtones permeating ever frame. It's as much about the present as it is the future since the consequences of our actions are the inherited circumstances of these thinly hopeful characters. Clive Owen gives a fine performance as a true antihero who merely plans to wait around for his chance to die, but instead finds himself caught up in rebellious movements wishing to get the world back on track. Michael Caine also delivers a golden performance as a delightfully obscene old kook with a passion for telling stories while puffing away on post-apocalyptic pot. The movie sadly got lost in the shuffle of last December's mad dash for Oscar glory, but I think it's as good as any film I saw last year.
I also want to mention the release of a small Australian drama called Candy starring Heath Ledger and newcomer Abbie Cornish. It's a relatively unknown junkie love story that's actually quite a fascinating film to behold. At times it's as hazy and idealistic as the dreamy lovers and its core while other moments are marked by a fierce and unforgiving realism that's as ruthlessly intense as the most commanding drug films in recent memory. Its diabolical contrast and the extraordinary performances by Ledger and Cornish make it absolutely mesmerizing.
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