There are many reasons to drop whatever you're doing right now and go watch Hugo. It's a Martin Scorsese movie. It's surprisingly rated PG so you can take little kids if you need to keep them occupied for a few hours. The lead actor, Asa Butterfield, is sublime, as are Chloe Grace Moretz, Ben Kingley, and the host of other familiar faces who play small but delightfully vibrant roles that round out the movie. But perhaps the most compelling reason of all is that it is in 3D and for once, that's a vital reason to watch it on the big screen.
Perhaps no one should be surprised that it took a director of Martin Scorsese's caliber to re-emphasize the role that 3D can play in enhancing a film. Rather than going for cheap and tawdry effects, he uses 3D to beautify the world of 1931 Paris. Avatar was similar in its use of special effects to immerse you into a fantastical world, but unlike that movie, Hugo is so much more than a visual spectacle. Even if it wasn't in 3D it would be a perfectly wonderful story about an orphan boy who fixes clocks in a Paris railway station and lives between the station walls, trying to evade capture by the bumbling Inspector Gustav (Sacha Baron Cohen in an unexpectedly marvelous role). He steals delicious-looking croissants from a station bakery every morning and steals spare parts from a toy store run by Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley who delivers an expectedly wonderful performance) to fix the automaton that he and his father were working on before his father's untimely death in a museum fire. He is vastly lonely, terrified of being sent to an orphanage, and is consumed by his need to fix this automaton that he thinks will be able to deliver a message to him from his father.
The story moves slowly at first but soon picks up pace, weaving in all these disparate strands to create one perfect tale. When Georges Méliès catches Hugo stealing from him, he sets off a chain of events that lead to Hugo conspiring with Georges' goddaughter, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz in a much more subdued and enchanting guise) to discover the story of Méliès' hidden past. What follows is a loving ode to the art of filmmaking (Méliès is a brilliant but thwarted filmmaker) and the importance of preserving movies to serve as a record of our collective history. Much has already been made about how this is "a movie about movies." At one point Hugo talks about how his father described watching a movie for the first time - "I could watch what I dream in the day." And that is precisely what it feels like to watch Hugo. Unlike animated films that try to look realistic, this film emphatically feels like a live-action movie trying to appear ethereal and otherwordly, and that's where the 3D really helps. Unlike other 3D movies, this one isn't dark with muted colors and awkward effects. Everything seems somehow brighter and more vibrant. After watching this movie and Midnight in Paris earlier this year, I have never been more enchanted with the City of Light.
This isn't just a movie about movies, however. It is a movie for people who love books, people who love clocks, people who love France, people who love falling in love. It is a movie for anyone who loved anything and just needed to make that passion their purpose in life. The little subplots with various characters trying to fall in love at the railway station are delightful and nuanced. There's a subplot with a librarian (played by an actor that you can't fail to recognize) who indulges Isabelle's love for literature and using improbably long words. All of these stories help to create a perfectly realized world and they help ensure that the charm of this movie never wears thin.
In an interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, Scorsese said he was in a car with his daughter one day and she suddenly turned to him and said, "Why don't you find out what people like and then make a film?" Frankly, if Scorsese continues to take his daughter's advice, I'm going to be spending a lot more time in the theater.
No comments:
Post a Comment