Martin Scorcese’s violent, gritty dramas are consistent critical hits. I don’t think anyone would mind if he kept making them, and I don’t think anyone would blame him for it. This is a guy who has found what he is good at, proven it to everyone else, and has the means to ensure he continue at it.
However, Scorcese surprises everyone by moving far outside of his comfort zone with a 3D, visually-oriented family film. This embrace of new ideas and new technologies sets an example for why attempting to innovate new technologies and not stick to the status quo would be reason enough to like Hugo, but better still is that mixed with the visually stunning images is a compelling story. Scorcese and screenwriter John Logan have made an excellent film that most everyone can enjoy.
Brian Selznick’s novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret is adapted into a screenplay by John Logan, a writer of The Last Samurai and The Aviator. The center of the story is to inspire an appreciation of cinema and encourage the preserving of old films, but it also has some important things to say about dealing with the past and how it relates to the future. Obviously, analyzing it in great detail would give away the plot, but I can assure you it is very well done.
The movie is about an orphan boy (named Herbert or something) who lives in a Parisian railway station operating the clocks after his father (Jude Law) dies in a fire. One of the few things he has left is an animatron (aka mechanical doll) that is meant to write or draw something. Problem is it is in poor repair, and even if Hugo can fix it he still misses the key to get it to start. When an elderly man (Ben Kingsley) who runs a toy shop in the station catches him stealing the parts needed to rebuild the robot, he takes the boy’s book containing all of the designs for the animatron. The man’s adopted daughter (Chloe Grace Mortez) agrees to help him get it back, and the two begin to discover the man has a dark secret.
Asa Butterfield proves to be a rising star worth watching in the title role, and the supporting cast is great as well. Special note should go to the always charming Emily Mortimer as the owner of a flower shop and Sacha Baren Cohen as the station inspector determined to send the protagonist to an orphanage. If you are thinking that perhaps an orphanage is a safer place for a pre-teen boy than a train station that is a very good question, but the film resolves this dilemma in a satisfactory, if not perfect, manner.
Richard Richardson (Wall Street, both Kill Bills, The Aviator, Inglorious Basterds…) is cinematographer, and along with Scorcese does a great job. This is probably the most beautiful to look at live action film of the year. Just as importantly, Scorcese makes near-perfectly layered, near-perfectly focused 3D (the film was mostly shot in the format). At a time when most older and drama-orientated filmmakers are denying the benefits of the format, Scorcese is proving that this technique definitely has a lot to offer (and the high 3D percentage of the film’s gross shows people have notice).
A fear many parents have is that their children will not enjoy it. This is understandable, but most kids will find the compelling story quite entertaining. Not as much so as, say, Arthur Christmas, but enough to justify taking them to it. And adults will enjoy this much more.
Hugo is a gorgeous and touching adventure, and one definitely worth checking out.
However, Scorcese surprises everyone by moving far outside of his comfort zone with a 3D, visually-oriented family film. This embrace of new ideas and new technologies sets an example for why attempting to innovate new technologies and not stick to the status quo would be reason enough to like Hugo, but better still is that mixed with the visually stunning images is a compelling story. Scorcese and screenwriter John Logan have made an excellent film that most everyone can enjoy.
Brian Selznick’s novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret is adapted into a screenplay by John Logan, a writer of The Last Samurai and The Aviator. The center of the story is to inspire an appreciation of cinema and encourage the preserving of old films, but it also has some important things to say about dealing with the past and how it relates to the future. Obviously, analyzing it in great detail would give away the plot, but I can assure you it is very well done.
The movie is about an orphan boy (named Herbert or something) who lives in a Parisian railway station operating the clocks after his father (Jude Law) dies in a fire. One of the few things he has left is an animatron (aka mechanical doll) that is meant to write or draw something. Problem is it is in poor repair, and even if Hugo can fix it he still misses the key to get it to start. When an elderly man (Ben Kingsley) who runs a toy shop in the station catches him stealing the parts needed to rebuild the robot, he takes the boy’s book containing all of the designs for the animatron. The man’s adopted daughter (Chloe Grace Mortez) agrees to help him get it back, and the two begin to discover the man has a dark secret.
Asa Butterfield proves to be a rising star worth watching in the title role, and the supporting cast is great as well. Special note should go to the always charming Emily Mortimer as the owner of a flower shop and Sacha Baren Cohen as the station inspector determined to send the protagonist to an orphanage. If you are thinking that perhaps an orphanage is a safer place for a pre-teen boy than a train station that is a very good question, but the film resolves this dilemma in a satisfactory, if not perfect, manner.
Richard Richardson (Wall Street, both Kill Bills, The Aviator, Inglorious Basterds…) is cinematographer, and along with Scorcese does a great job. This is probably the most beautiful to look at live action film of the year. Just as importantly, Scorcese makes near-perfectly layered, near-perfectly focused 3D (the film was mostly shot in the format). At a time when most older and drama-orientated filmmakers are denying the benefits of the format, Scorcese is proving that this technique definitely has a lot to offer (and the high 3D percentage of the film’s gross shows people have notice).
A fear many parents have is that their children will not enjoy it. This is understandable, but most kids will find the compelling story quite entertaining. Not as much so as, say, Arthur Christmas, but enough to justify taking them to it. And adults will enjoy this much more.
Hugo is a gorgeous and touching adventure, and one definitely worth checking out.
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