Hugo – A heartfelt tale of accomplishment and automata

One day not too long ago, acclaimed film director Martin Scorsese sat down with his family to watch television, and the abridged, edited version of Goodfellas came on — consisting only of 15 minutes of sad people staring, they tried to watch The Departed. But that edited version was only 6 minutes long, leaving his daughter to ask “Daddy, why don’t people ever talk in your movies?” That’s when Martin Scorsese got the crazy idea to make a PG-rated movie for the whole family.

Or at least that’s how I like to think it happened.

The new movie, Hugo, from Scorsese is adapted from Brian Selznick’s historical fiction novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and revolves around a young boy in a 1930’s Paris train station named Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) and his interactions with real life movie pioneer Georges Méliès, played by Sir Ben Kingsley (Schindler’s List, The Love Guru). Hugo is an orphan, as to be expected of course, living in the walls of the train station fixing clocks — but in his spare time, working on clockwork devices. He learned from his father (Jude Law) in a sad set of flashbacks about a mysterious mechanical man he found abandoned in a museum, and Hugo endlessly works to fix it.

But living without money is difficult, and Hugo runs afoul of the station inspector, played by Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) and local toymaker Georges Méliès, who isn’t having any of this nonsense, thank you very much. But when Georges takes Hugo’s precious notebook, Hugo is forced to have an adventure of his own to retrieve it, with the help of Georges’ goddaughter Isabel, played by Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass), a literate but bored girl starved for a mystery of her own to solve.

What the two will discover will lead them on an unexpected journey of discovery and wonder about the purpose of life and imagination. If you know all about Georges Méliès, you may not be so surprised by some of the various plot twists — but if like me, you are only somewhat familiar with early film-making and the silent era of movies, you may just be shocked and awed by the directions the movie goes.

It’s said that Martin Scorsese went out to make a movie for the family — and there’s no question that he succeeded with Hugo. Although a bit slapstick at times, there’s nothing truly violent or disturbing, even with a few dramatic and dangerous scenes. The movie doesn’t shy away from pain or sorrow, yet it delights in the power of imagination, even in small doses. The 3-D is serviceable, more like a set of paper cutouts you move through than any true depth — but it’s not really a problem. The colors and set design add a sense of wonder to the fictional world that’s based on our own — you are never quite sure what’s real and what’s imagined, which is, I imagine, much the point.

The acting is superb throughout, with Sir Ben Kingsley acquitting himself of all his recent terrible movies, providing an honest sense of pathos and happiness when appropriate. Helen McCrory (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)  is similarly excellent as his wife with her own mysterious background. The two young actors, Asa Butterfield and Chloë Moretz, are vital to the movie running properly, and they pull it off perfectly. Asa Butterfield has a wild, expressive face with true subtlety of emotion, while Chloë Moretz seems almost like a seasoned veteran of the screen at this point. Only Sacha Baron Cohen comes close to parody, with hints of depth and a perhaps not entirely earned ending. The movie is quite long, but although it’s a bit slow to start, things pick up and proceed with the typical Scorsese alacrity.

In the end, this is a film about both the importance of family and the influence of film — I sure hope that’s what Martin “Marty” Scorsese intended, but I think I’m right this time.

Clacked by Jeremy Fogelman
on Nov 23, 2011 @ 00:31 EST5EDT