The Big Picture · Discussion

The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 22 - ‘Children of Men’

April 21, 2025/ 44 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins

Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins put Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men at No. 22, a pick Sean kept threatening to drop before both of them rewatched it and decided they'd ranked it too low. They go through the single-take set pieces, the immaculate-conception reading, the King Crimson and Radiohead needle drops, and the 2006 Oscars that handed the film three technical nominations and no wins while The Departed took Best Picture.

27 films across 1 segment.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

No. 22: ‘Children of Men’25 for 25

Children of Men 2006

The pick. Alfonso Cuarón directs and shares a writing credit with Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, adapting P.D. James's 1992 novel; Clive Owen, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Julianne Moore, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Pam Ferris, Charlie Hunnam and Michael Caine star, shot by Emmanuel Lubezki. Set in a 2027 London after 18-plus years of worldwide infertility, it follows Theo, a burned-out former activist pulled back in by his ex, Julian, to escort Kee, a pregnant refugee, to safety. Sean and Amanda hadn't rewatched it before longlisting it, bumped it down the schedule for Something's Gotta Give, then both watched it and thought it might belong in the top 10. They read it as a perfect screenplay married to athletic filmmaking: the single-shot car ambush, the closing camp raid Theo runs through following the baby's cries, absolutely grotesque things staged in the background of nearly every frame. Cuarón added the refugee and camp material (Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo imagery, cages, ICE-like separations) to a James novel that was more class-focused; a flu pandemic that killed Theo and Julian's son prefigures COVID. Slavoj Žižek's reading of the conception as figuratively immaculate (no sex in the film) comes up, as does the Danny Huston scene, where a powerful man hoards Guernica and Michelangelo's David while the world ends outside.

Something's Gotta Give 2003

The list entry the hosts bumped up while Sean stalled on Children of Men. Diane Keaton was Oscar-nominated for it and lost; a prior pick on their 25-for-25 list.

Contagion 2011

Amanda's note in their doc pairs it with Children of Men as the other film whose pandemic dread landed as prescient; Sean recalls it as ill-timed viewing in early 2020.

Y Tu Mamá También 2001

The Cuarón road movie he calls his first real film; Sean says he seriously considered pushing for it in this spot, and its handheld, follow-the-characters style is a direct line to Children of Men.

Sólo con tu Pareja 1991

Cuarón's debut, made in Mexico; cited to show how different his early films are from one another.

A Little Princess 1995

Cuarón's American film; Amanda tells Sean not to fast-forward past it, calling it a good movie.

Great Expectations 1998

Cuarón's much-touted Dickens adaptation with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke that fizzled, the failure that pushed him to reset with Y Tu Mamá También.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban poster

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2004

The paycheck franchise job Cuarón took before Children of Men; the hosts rate it one of the best franchise movies of the century.

Roma 2018

Cuarón's personal Mexico City memoir and the last film he made before a seven-year gap; the point after which he stopped being a regular topic on the show.

Gravity 2013

The Cuarón crowd-pleaser the Oscars did reward, which Sean reads as a make-good; he loved it in theaters but finds it doesn't hold up, thin on character and only 90 minutes.

Closer 2004

The Mike Nichols film from Clive Owen's brief run as a top-billed star.

Croupier 1998

The breakout that set up Owen's early-2000s stretch of cool movies.

Wimbledon 2004

Sean credits Owen with a very important intro voiceover; Amanda doesn't remember it.

The Departed 2006

The Best Picture winner of 2006, held up as the year that beat Children of Men; the hosts' number-one guy, with all respect.

Babel 2006

A Best Picture nominee that year; Sean flatly says it sucks, and notes Iñárritu is one of Cuarón's Three Amigos alongside Guillermo del Toro.

Letters from Iwo Jima 2006

Clint Eastwood's late-December 2006 release and a Best Picture nominee, one of the films that crowded Children of Men out.

Little Miss Sunshine 2006

The Sundance phenomenon and box-office hit that ran the table that awards season; a Best Picture nominee.

The Queen 2006

A Best Picture nominee Amanda likes a lot, but, both agree, not Children of Men.

United 93 2006

Paul Greengrass's docudrama, which Sean singles out as a genuinely great directing nominee that year.

Michael Clayton 2007

A prior 25-for-25 entry, and the only Oscar win on the list so far: Tilda Swinton, Best Supporting Actress.

The Handmaiden 2016

A prior list entry, which the hosts note wasn't even nominated for Best International Feature.

Z 1969

Costa-Gavras's most famous political drama, first of the if-you-liked-this recommendations.

Missing 1982

The Costa-Gavras film with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek the hosts covered on their 1982 movie draft with Tracy Letts.

Blade Runner 1982

Recommended as the other prescient police-state movie, its smog and dystopia set in a 2019 the film imagined from 1982.

12 Monkeys 1995

An if-you-liked-this recommendation, wildly different in tone but similar in its societal-collapse register.

Punishment Park 1971

Peter Watkins's 1970s British film, a deeper-cut recommendation, different in style but not in tone.

Civil War 2024

An if-you-liked-this pick: another end-of-the-world group movie whose action and world-building one host rates highly.

Also mentioned raised along the way

More Costa-Gavras State of Siege The Confession

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