Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

So I had remembered hearing a lot about this movie around the same time as We Need to Talk About Kevin, and sort of lumped both into a dark corner. I'm ashamed of myself that I almost sabotaged myself out of this amazing story. Thank goodness I saw this film as a part of my Oscar Watch pact (which sadly I've only gotten to 7 out of the 9 nominated films and the awards airs tonight). The movie was released last December and has made about $33 million worldwide to date. The movie is brought to us by Stephen Daldry, who is the same director of Billy Elliot (a personal favorite), The Hours, and The Reader.

The plot follows a young boy played by Thomas Horn who is a self proclaimed pacifist, Francophile, inventor, etc. He finds a mysterious key in his father's closet, played by Tom Hanks, about a year after his untimely death in the Sept. 11 tragedy. He sets out on a mission across New York City to find the lock belonging to his key while trying to keep everything hidden from his mother, played by Sandra Bullock.

Alright, I was thinking the same thing; this must be a very whimsical light-hearted adventure tale. I was extremely wrong, and thank goodness. There was only a dash of whimsy in this story and everything was completely genuine and believable by the end of the film. I'll venture to say that this was one of the greatest stories I have been witness to in quite some time. While some movies focus on character studies, tone, or feeling, this movie presented a fantastic story and brought it to life. Not unlike Hugo for the child at heart piece, but much more grounded in reality. The characters were perfectly written. The story amazingly told the events from the perspective of a boy, a very mature boy, without losing any of it's credibility or genuinity (that should be a word). The dialogue was simply fantastic and I would love to have the rhetoric of the father and son in the story. Fantastic dialogue for fellow lovers of wit. The way the story unfolded was pure brilliance and the feelings and emotions brought out would pull at even the coldest heart. I can't praise the plot enough in this review. I'm astonished that this was not nominated for best adapted screenplay. As I have not read the source material, I must assume that the book is even more brilliant.

The editing in the movie was superb and made the non-sequential feel sequential. The story was paced remarkably well and you felt like a companion along for the journey. The camera angles and framing were well thought out and captured the point of the view without subtracting from the story. The score was just right and not overdone. The color was beautiful in all of the scenes.

I'd like to know why Thomas Horn was not nominated for best actor. Granted, I have not seen Demian Bichir, George Clooney, or Gary Oldman's performances but I have seen Brad Pitt and Jean Dujardin's and I would venture to say that this little boy, well at 15 he's not so little, gave a performance in that same league. Tom Hanks was lovable as always in his time on screen. Sandra Bullock gave a very raw performance and captured her character's essence. Max Von Sydow, who's up for best supporting actor, gave a very detailed performance despite not speaking a single word. You could see the emotion dripping from his face.

I was extremely happy with this film. It was about the story and it was a great story. I was a little reluctant given the 9/11 subject matter, but it doesn't make it the real focus of the movie. I know some parts of the plot are a little whimsical and the story doesn't get dragged down into the dark depths of the earth, but the point of view is from a child. I think a lot of the critics who have criticized it for a lack of depth or 'feigned sensitivity' are looking for an adult's perspective of the events. But the story is about loss and is not about the tragedy itself, it's also about a child. I'm very happy with the way it combined realism with a story teller that is also a child. I have seen very few movies that have an adult audience from a child's perspective (that actually worked). I would whole-heartedly recommend this movie to my dearest friends or anyone who enjoys sad/funny/emotional/heartwarming/heartwrenching stories. "As I continued searching I found myself lighter because I was closer to my father. But I was also heavier because I was further away from my mother".