I don’t know what’s been going on behind the scenes at Universal when it comes to Children of Men, Alfonso Cuaron’s absolutely brilliant new film. I mean, bully for them for releasing the film and going wider with it this past weekend, but why the heck has the marketing been so botched? The movie hasn’t been sold well to audiences, and it feels like Universal has really dropped the ball when it comes to getting this movie into the awards race. Children of Men is adored by critics, and most of the negative feedback I have heard about the film has been of the “It was really good, but it didn’t change my life” variety. The fact of the matter is that Cuaron deserves to be in the Best Director category at the Oscars this year, and his cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, needs to walk out of the Kodak Theater with a statue in his hand. And frankly, Children of Men deserves to be in the Best Picture race a thousand times more than Little Miss Sunshine, which is currently perceived as a nomination lock.
In an alternate reality, Universal has put more muscle behind this film and they would have come up with something sort of like this trailer, which was cut together by Blair Erickson at the Something Awful forums. It’s about five minutes and should be considered spoilery… and also brilliant, and not just because he quotes me at the end. This is a trailer that really captures a lot of what makes Children of Men unique.