hugo, by martin scorsese

[porktaco]

so, i took my kids last night. my daughter, 13, had read the book in class a couple of years ago and was predisposed to say "oh another movie that fails to capture all of what's great about the book." well. let me tell you. that didn't happen.

yes, it's sentimental and yes the emotion gets put on pretty thick - but never too thick. it's gorgeous to look at, beautifully evocative of place and of the magic of imagination and image-making, and weaves together a set of home-finding stories that are uplifting and heroic. people clapped at the end.

note - the story concerns the latter days of georges meliers, a pioneer of french film. it stays reasonably close to the truth, leaving aside, of course, the magic automaton and the boy, hugo, as well as the flora of certain secondary characters.

one of the best movies i've seen this year. don't be surprised if scorsese gets an oscar, and if sacha baron cohen gets a nomination for supporting actor.

 

[steelydam]

I had to see it twice because of my kids and actually didn't mind going, even the second time. It is indeed a very nice film. I saw one reviewer mention that Sasha Baron Cohen was the only thing that particular reviewer felt didn't work well in the film; I didn't have any problem with him.

My 11 year old daughter is in a book club at her school and another parent is friends with the author and arranged for him to come and have lunch with the book club kids - she was stoked! She said he was a very interesting and nice person.

I too would recommend it, even to adults.

 

[CK Dexter Haven]

I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. The sets - real and virtual - are gorgeous. I liked the actors.

But, all throughout, i had the feeling that this was a very small story, being told in a very large and grand fashion. The story felt like it could have all been accomplished on a Broadway stage. I wasn't aware of the book.

As well, i didn't quite like how 'teachy' it was, especially at the end. I realize not many/enough people are acquainted with the history of filmmaking, but i thought it could have been told without so much straight narrative.

Still, it's worth seeing. Amazing filmmaking by Scorsese, for certain. I'm still awestruck by how they can create those environments in computers and have them rendered so realistically. It becomes nearly impossible to know what's real and what isn't. Sometimes, only impossible camera moves are the give away.