FLOP CULTURE
Troubled birth, botched publicity or just ahead of its time? How Alfonso Cuarón’s near-future allegory missed its audience…
How Children Of Men took a long shot and fell short.
Why it was a good idea (on paper)
After Y Tu Mamá También and Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban,
Alfonso Cuarón was a bankable voice in critic-friendly cinema. For his P.D. James adap, he had a killer concept, plus Oscar nominees Clive Owen and Julianne Moore upfront. A smooth birth seemed assured.
What went wrong?
Cuarón described the shoot as “very troubled”, though these struggles were symptoms of ambition rather than conflict. Designed to maximise audience immersion, his docustylings – long takes, single shots – needed meticulous prep and bold in-camera innovations, all rewarded on-screen. The big problems popped up pre- and post-production.
In 2002, the project stalled as Universal and Cuarón clashed; post-Potter, Universal relented. Yet studio chair Stacey Snider left Universal pre-release, handing PR midwifery to a confused studio. What to do about the passive hero, shortlived co-lead, exposition shortfall and bleak vision? Universal’s answer was a daft Christmas Day US release date, after a trailer that emphasised the wrong story to the mismatched tune of Sigur Rós’ buoyant ‘Hoppípolla’. Cuarón’s Children needed more loving nurturing.
Redeeming feature
Between ferocious set-pieces, worldbuilding detail, nuanced subtext, stingingly relevant despair at global injustice and still-more-stinging prescience, Cuarón’s finest film (yes) ages well. A call for empathy cries from its heart, upholding hope in humanity amid the darkness.
What happened next?
Critics poured praise, but audiences were less forthcoming. Cuarón endured five “intense and difficult years” afterwards, before returning with Gravity. In 2016, numerous 10-years-on think-pieces about
Children reaffirmed its acute insight.
Should it be remade?
A conception so immaculate doesn’t need fixing. Battlestar Galactica producer David Eick pushed for a television spin-off; perhaps a Handmaid’s Tale-ish variant might’ve worked. Or perhaps we dodged a bullet there.