“Hugo”

08 Jan 2012 1 Comment

by Jonathan Thompson in Movies Tags: Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Brian Selznick, George Melies, Howard Shore, Hugo, Martin Scorses, Papa George, The Holiday, The Invention of Hugo Cabret

“Hugo” i s a magical film with a very big heart. It focuses on the story of a young, orphaned boy who maintains the clocks at a Paris train station — and through his story, the film unravels the mystery of the bitter toy shop owner in the train station, as well as exploring the lives of some of the train station’s regulars.

The aesthetics of the film are just magical. Howard Shore provides a beautiful score to accompany the lovely images on the screen. The film, though, is made for 3D, and I must say that I feel it takes away more than it enhances. I will recognize that there were some lovely scenes made possible by the 3D effects, but I feel that those same effects distracted too much from the story. The film’s is such a lovely story, that it doesn’t deserve to have focus taken from it and redirected to awkward effects for a 3D experience.

The title character, Hugo (Asa Butterfield), is a lonely boy, living alone in the bowels of a train station. Through flashbacks, one learns that his father passed away and he was passed on to his alcoholic uncle, who maintains the clocks at a Paris train station. So ends Hugo’s childhood, as he’s thrust into a working life, especially after his uncle disappears, leaving him in charge of the clocks. He is a sad boy, with no company but that of the broken automaton he is desperately trying to fix. Asa is a promising young actor. His body language is very nuanced, but there are brief moments of mediocrity scattered through out the film. Though, at many instances he reminded me of a young Elijah Wood — especially with those large, expressive eyes of his.

Speaking of his eyes, they were an important feature in the film. Many scenes would start with the camera focused on those big eyes of his, and then moving on to whatever it was that Hugo was looking at. I posit that showing those enthusiastic eyes of his is a way of showing the audience the wonderment of youth, even in his seemingly unhappy life, as he looks upon the machines that run the train station with excitement.

As nice of a character as Hugo is, I found myself wishing the movie had been called “Papa George” or “George”. I found the character of George Méliès (Ben Kingsley) to be incredibly interesting and engaging. The movie is a just over two hours and I started feeling a bit weary after much of Hugo’s story, but once the film focused on Papa George and his life, I was entirely engaged. I found his story to be completely fascinating and very sad (I couldn’t help but to think of the older filmmaker in the movie “The Holiday”). After doing a bit of brief reading about the film and the book that “Hugo” is based on, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” by Brian Selznick, I was ecstatic to find out that George Méliès is an actual historical figure — and even more ecstatic to learn that he is mostly accurately depicted in the film! This makes that whole story even more affecting to me. I feel like “Hugo” is in part an homage from director Martin Scorsese to early filmmakers, particularly Méliès, that have paved the way for contemporaries like him. The way that Scorsese depicted George’s story was very exciting and nostalgic. At the end of George’s tale, I found myself tearing up from the story I had just experienced. It is storytelling at its best — and what better way to express a filmmaker’s life and works than through film?

I believe that this film — a family film — has more than just joy and delight to bring to children. I think Scorsese aims at inspiring children, and adults alike, to embrace films in such a way that Méliès did when he made his movies: “If you ever wonder where your dreams come from, look around: this is where they’re made.” What else could be so magical? It’s such a refreshing way to look at film. In essence, that is exactly why I love films so much. For that, this movie is an absolute gem.

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