Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) has lived an unfortunate
life. When his father (Jude Law) dies in a fire, he is snatched up by his uncle
Claude(Ray Winstone), a drunkard who forces him to quit school in order to take
up a job repairing the clocks within the Paris train station (and thereby
allowing Claude to spend his time at the bottom of a bottle). After Claude
disappears, Hugo finds himself living all alone within the walls of the depot,
always mindful of staying out of the sight of the Station Inspector (Sacha
Baron Cohen). In his limited spare time, Hugo uses the skills his superior
mechanical skills working on the repair of an automaton his father found in a
museum attic shortly before his death, a machine he believes will deliver a
message from his father. To make it work, Hugo begins stealing gears and parts
from a small store and soon draws the ire of its proprietor, Georges Melies
(Ben Kingsley). Georges allows him to work off his debt by repairing things in
the shop and soon this job leads to a friendship with Georges’ goddaughter, Isabelle
(Chloe Grace Moretz), who happens to own a key that fits the automaton
perfectly. But instead of a message from his father, the automaton draws a
picture that traces back to Georges and leads Hugo and Isabelle on a journey of
great discovery.
To boil the plentiful elements and concepts contained
within Hugo into a few paragraphs is
a tough task. It is a tremendously complex film with a wide range of plots and
purposes that don’t always interact in the most straightforward way. It is all
at once a poignant family film, a coming of age film, an adventure epic, and an
extremely personal homage. The mix of genres is a strong indicator as to why Hugo is having such a hard time finding
an audience. Its rating and the inclusion of the 3D component make it an
obvious draw for families but the truth is, this is not a film kiddos are going
to enjoy. (Case in point: the young boy sitting behind me who spent the entire
second half of the film telling his mother in a not-so-quiet voice that he
wanted to go home.) This is the rare “children’s movie” that’s actually made
for adults, designed to make us remember how magical everything could be when
we were younger. So, basically, Scorsese’s take on a family movie.
Hugo is a deep and nuanced film that
draws you in a little more with each passing scene. It starts slow (too slow,
honestly) but builds consistently to the climax that, for me at least,
delivered tenfold on the promises made throughout the runtime. As the movie
progresses, Scorsese seems to be asking the audience to invest in Hugo’s
struggles, a call to action I had no problem responding to. Butterfield
provides a quality performance that peaks at the right times and his relative
lack of experience is tempered quite well by Moretz, who always displays a
maturity beyond her years. Their dynamic works well and Scorsese does an
excellent job of relying on his young stars just enough to draw the audience’s
attention but not so much as to put too much pressure upon them. The supporting
actors, particularly Kingsley and Michael Stuhlbarg, all play their parts with
subtle flair and each does a great job of highlighting the main characters. The
surrounding storylines, while a bit distracting in the early going, come together
with precision to expand the film’s narrative and
But where Hugo
truly excels is when it delves into the world of the early cinema. A forgotten
filmmaker, Georges has retreated within himself and locked away the many
painful memories that came from his post-war exile. It falls to Hugo and
Isabelle, along with the help of a film expert (played exquisitely by Stuhlbarg)
to reawaken Georges’ love of film. Scorsese uses this piece of storytelling to
unveil his own admiration for the early films and the further he takes Hugo into this realm, the more enamored
with his work I became. It is a supremely well-made, beautifully shot film (as
all Scorsese films are) that is nearly overpowering in its personal nature. You
get the impression that Scorsese loves this film and wants you to love it as
well. I only wish more viewers would join me in reciprocating that love.
Grade: A
A G-rated movie need not be for children. It's very, very refreshing to see a G-rated movie that is not. This movie has intrigued me in spite of being in 3-D. Your review intrigues me even more. But the most amazing thing is that Sacha Baron Cohen is playing a serious role.
ReplyDeleteWe will be seeing this tomorrow. In 2D.
ReplyDeleteThis movie didn't entirely work for me. As you noted, it moves too slow and never really picks up much steam until the last half hour or so. Due to the subject, it will please all the cinephiles around but I'm not sure it quite works as a family film.
ReplyDeleteOverall, it's a pleasant movie but I wouldn't see it again.
@Talmid, it's actually PG but the sentiment is the same: this is definitely an adult film, not a kid's movie. Hope you like it!
ReplyDelete@Castor, Definitely see where you're coming from (as I think most of the people in my party would agree). But there was something about the early going that made me want to stay invested and the pay off was worth it for me. Thanks for checking in!
You know, you're right, I wasn't that into it, partially because I have a hard time quieting that part of my brain that goes, "Jude Law and Ray Winstone are brothers? Is there...like a plot twist that's going to explain that?" or, "Why is Christopher Lee even in this movie? His character arc makes no sense! There was probably more to that in the book--but if they didn't have time why leave it in?" But it's possible even I and my hypercritical brain could have enjoyed the movie anyway (the actual Melies footage, for instance, was beautiful and magical in a way the rest of the film never quite managed to be), were it not for one thing: that freaking automaton.
ReplyDeleteThat creepy little monster was the most horrifying thing I've seen in film all year (and I recently watched both Scream and the original The Thing for the first time). I kept begging the kid not to fix it because I was pretty sure that if he ever succeeded it would MURDER US ALL IN OUR SLEEP. Pure nightmare fuel, and it completely spoiled whatever "cinema is magical and will make you not an orphan anymore!" message Scorsese was trying to sell. Just...*shudder*
Of all the problems you just listed above, the automaton is the only one I had similar feelings about. You need to turn your brain off a bit when you sit down for a movie! :)
ReplyDeleteI read one review that said this was the "kid movie for the kid inside of all the adult movie goers" (or something like that). Ha. I tend to agree!
ReplyDeleteand it wasn't until after watching it that I realized how many subplots were in the film that didn't really see resolution. That aside, it still surprised me as a great movie. Quite the Enigma! Nice review.
That's a good way to put it. Think I may head out to see it again this week.
ReplyDelete