ScreenWize

A dystopic vision of a future earth devastated by some disaster of our own making might not seem like fodder for children’s stories, but, like Wall-E earlier in the year, City of Ember takes this grim premise and crafts a film both sweet and full of hope. In the eponymous City of Ember, an underground warren of a city lit by dim electric lights when the generator is working, a group of young school graduates stand at assembly, about to be given the work assignments that will be the lot of their life. Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) loves dashing about the place, while her good friend Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) dreams of being an electrician and finding a permanent fix for the generator. Neither happy with their assigned jobs, the pair swap.

Ember is falling apart. A city designed by the mysterious ‘builders’ to protect mankind from whatever has befallen the surface of the planet, food supplies are coming to an end and the city’s infrastructure is following suit. When Lina uncovers a mysterious box that once belonged to a distant relative, she and Doon are drawn into an adventure that might uncover a path to the world outside.

Director Gil Kenan imbues the film with a terrific sense of pace as the kids dash about on their adventure. At the same time, his vision for Ember, as abetted by Martin Laing’s production design and Jon Billington’s art direction, recalls such bleak visionary works as Terry Gilliam’s Brazil or Alex Proyas’ Dark City. The sets are gorgeous, and the gadgetry that inhabits the city – a mixture of Renaissance era clockwork, Atomic era vacuum tubes and 21st Century electronics, are wondrous.

In the way Spielberg planted hints of the colour red in his black and white vision for Schindler’s List, Kenan allows the occasional appearance of the colour blue to dazzle amongst a palette of drab greys and browns. Giant moths and enormous mutant moles hint at what might have gone on above the surface of Ember, and as the run-ins with the vicious mole are quite terrifying, I was surprised to see the G rating.

Grown-ups will love the story as much as the kids, and will appreciate the incredible supporting cast fleshing out small roles, including Tim Robbins as Doon’s father, Bill Murray as the conniving Mayor of Ember and Toby Jones as his weasel-ish assistant, and Martin Landau as Doon’s boss. Ember comes from a series of young adult novels by Jeanne Duprau, and so hopefully this is the first film of many.

CK

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Filed Under: Reviews by Simon