Victim's Gold Stars: #2: Our Last Hope

THE TOP TEN: #2: Children of Men

What marks out Alfonso Cuaron's adaptation of P.D. James' dystopian novel The Children of Men (which I haven't read, I hasten to add) is how alarmingly realistic it looks. This is not some distant, technological future that's all shiny surfaces and robotic aides- this is the world gone to the shitter, that's for sure, and it all looks so familiar: this is a world that could easily happen, and even looks as though it might. Sure, in reality women may not become infertile (as is the main distinguishing feature of the film), but there are too many things in our world that could lead to this horrific eventuality. Asylum seekers are locked in cages in plain sight of people walking past, rioters stream menacingly down country roads with torches of fire and guns, coffee shops explode in the middle of London. Cuaron and his team (for once, five screenwriters does not a bad script make) have certainly developed James' story into a gripping and involving one, but what makes Children of Men the second best film of the year is the world they have created behind it- intricately detailed, painstakingly gritty, and alarmingly similar to our own.

Victim's Gold Stars: In Control

Only two categories and the top two of the top ten to go- hopefully this'll be completed by the weekend.

BEST DIRECTOR

I was going to do a little individual commentary for each one, but as I pondered this, I realized that each and every one of these directors are here because they were fiercely committed to a vision- very different visions, but committed to them all the same, stamping their own personalities and styles firmly on their respective films- these, each and every one, are auteurs, creating unique and surprising films in and out of systems that squash creativity, not bending to expectation, and producing films that inspired and entertained in different, but equally commendable ways.