When was the last time you looked at a movie with pure wonder?
Heading into Sunday’s Oscar telecast, one category considered a lock is Best Picture. Seven pictures might compete but only one (The Artist) continues to generate serious buzz. That’s a real shame, because the best film I saw this year, Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, received a nomination but seems unlikely to score anything beyond technical awards. And while mainstream audiences will find Hugo more accessible than The Artist, they have yet to realize it.
Perhaps we can forgive Academy voters for feeling there’s no reason to pay much attention to Hugo – aside from the double-fistful of nominations the film received. They’ve already handed Scorsese his lifetime achievement award via the Best Director honor he won for The Departed. So any recognition for Hugo comes as mere gravy for a director already lauded as a master. This thinking, however, refuses to judge Hugo on its own merits.
Based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick and set in Paris in 1931, Hugo starts with tragedy: the title character (Asa Butterfield) orphaned when his master clockmaker father dies in a museum fire.
This leaves Hugo to live within the walls and secret passages of the railway station Gare Montparnasse, setting the many clocks and stealing what parts he can to finish building an automaton he and his father began restoring.
Hugo begins as a Dickensian orphan but later emerges as a talented mechanical genius who shares his father’s love for the machines they build together. George Méliès (Ben Kingsley) starts out as a potential villain for Hugo, but develops into a man who lives his life hiding his past as a filmmaker. Hugo discovers a love of film and imparts it to Méliès’ granddaughter Isabelle; the two then show her father how much of an impact his early creations had.
In the relationship between Hugo and Méliès the film shines brighter than any of the others I’ve seen this year. Méliès first sees Hugo as nothing more than a thief, but by the time the credits roll the two develop a deep bond.
Categories: Movies, PJ Lifestyle Columns
Tags: Best Picture, Hugo, Martin Scorsese, Oscars
PLEASE get this book for your sons.
Get this book for everyone! Read it before you pass it on, it’s wonderful.
Great movie..
“imparts it to Méliès’ granddaughter Isabelle”
In the movie, she is his Goddaughter
well, for “Hugo”, there were no Doberman dog in France in the era, nor the girls were wearing berets (it’s rather a nowadays fashion), it seems that the film maker is using stereotypes for describing the old french life, but, it’s for a american public, then who cares ?
This book, and the film (for my son and father–I haven’t seen it yet)is among our all-time favorites.
The second video link is not working . . . do you have an alternate link?
I ended up enjoying this movie, but there was no small amount of bait-and-switch involved as between the promos and the movie itself.
This is one movie that would merit multiple viewings. It is packed with so much symbolism and so many references that one would be hard pressed to notice even a small fraction of them. The interplay of all of the themes and subplots work together like a Bach fugue. It is a real masterpiece that is sure to become a classic, despite its slow performance at the box office. Martin Scorsese proves that he is among the great with this film.
http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/02/okay-you-can-change-channel-from-oscars.html I predict the Artist for pandering to the vanity of Hollywood (Hugo focused on french movies, which is not as big for the Academy members).
But since Sacha Baron Cohen just had his one funny moment…I might as well watch something else!
Too bad it’s a french film on the american Cinema that won
Scorcese should have presented his movie for the “Cesars”
The Artist is an outstanding movie! I’ve seen most of Scorcese’s movies and liked all that I’ve seen, and I’ll watch Hugo when it comes out on DVD, but nothing said in this review convinces me that I’ll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed The Artist.
Martin Scorcese is awesome, i saw the movie anounced in tv and cant wait to see it.