...a dream of a movie just when we need it most.
Just go to
Hugo. Martin Scorsese has created a magical movie from places beloved in
books, in movies, and in reality. Movielovers tend to love train stations,
libraries, and movie houses because mysterious and wonderful things happen in
all of them. These wonders abound in Scorsese's tale. He has brought us a dream
of a movie just when we need it most during the seasonal glut of dreadful movies
made by filmmakers who can't access the world of illusion. May they all take
note of this masterpiece of imagining.
When 12 year
old Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) loses the father he loves (Jude Law), he
assumes the care and repair of his dad's broken automaton, a mechanical man of
brass and silver parts and an enchanting facial expression. "I thought if I
could fix it, I wouldn't be so lonely," he says very quietly. The boy lives
behind the walls of the cavernous Paris train station where twisting passageways
connect the gears, hoists, and pulleys that need tending if the huge station
clocks are to keep proper time. He meets Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) who
offers friendship and help. When Hugo asks "Why are you helping me?", she
answers "Because this is an adventure and I've never had one before." This
perfect answer sets the tone of the film. And later while picking a lock to
enter a movie theater, she says "We could get into trouble," he answers, "That's
how you know it's an adventure."
And so the
two dodge trouble, mostly in the form of the station inspector (Sacha Baron
Cohen) and his fierce Doberman. They are always at risk, always just a little
bit scared. When Isabelle leads Hugo to the home of her guardians Jeanne (Helen
McCrory) and Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley) we hope fervently that they will
welcome him forever. Once a magician and illusionist, Georges became an
artist/creator of silent movies until World War I made him obsolete. The
connections are tightening, the adventure continues.
Asa
Butterfield is perfectly withdrawn and bewildered as the lonely Hugo; Chloe
Grace Moretz is a smart and willing buddy for him; Ben Kingsley brings early
film legend Georges Melies to life; Helen McCrory is nuanced and right as
Georges' wife; Sacha Baron Cohen barrels over the top - in old silent film
fashion - as the station inspector. They all become accomplices in Scorsese's
skillful conjuring of a sense of place.
We look out
through the clock numbers at Paris glittering in its nighttime lights; we soak
up the crooked corridors of the enormous dark station; we feel the loneliness in
Hugo's room under the eaves; we are overwhelmed by the wondrous silence of the
library with its rows of reading tables and tall old ceilings.
Martin
Scorsese's abiding love of movies is the enduring pleasure here. He invites us
into the magical world of his imagination and we follow him there with delight.
Grab a pal of any age and go.
Copyright (c) Illusion