Director, Martin Scorsese (George Harrison: Living In The Material World, Public Speaking) has well and truly stepped out of his comfort zone with Hugo, and I don’t just mean because this time around he hasn’t got Leonardo DiCaprio has his leading man. No, Scorsese has stepped behind the camera for a family film, not something you would normally expect from the man who has brought us Shutter Island and The Departed, but even as he tries something new Scorsese manages to create a really beautiful film.
This boxing day your kids may be screaming at you to take them to see the latest Alvin & The Chipmunks film, but please do everyone a favor and take them to see Hugo instead, because this a family film that deserves to be mentioned alongside classics such as The Sound Of Music and Oliver Twist.
Set in Paris in the 1930s Hugo tells the story of Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield – Nanny McPhee And The Big Bang, The Wolfman) who has been living in the walls of a train station with his uncle (Ray Winstone – Lost In Italy, Rango) after the death of his father (Jude Law – Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, 360). But now his uncle has disappeared so Hugo spends his days winding the clocks of the station, dodging the station’s inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen – Bruno, Madagascar 2) and trying to put together an automaton that his father left him (more importantly trying to find the key that will make it work). His search is made harder by a toyshop owner, Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley – Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, Teen Patti) who takes a disliking for Hugo when he looks at the boy’s notebook. However, Hugo soon befriends Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz – Hick, The Dark Fields) who is really looking for adventure.
Scorsese really does bring a feel to this film that most directors could only dream it. His sweeping opening shots over Paris and his shots inside the internal workings of the station’s clocks show just what an eye-for-detail he has… is it to bold to say that he is the finest director of our time? Add this to an amazing story that ends up in a place that nobody would ever guess and you really do have one of the finest films that we have seen in a very long time. It doesn’t happen very often these days but this was a film that made me sit there and just go ‘WOW!!!’… I felt like a child seeing my first ever film… this is the kind of film that can make you re-discover your love for cinema.
Hugo allows Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace Moretz to continue growing as actors but the surprise packet here is Sacha Baron Cohen. As he did with Sweeney Todd Cohen shows that there is more to his acting ability than just characters such as Borat and Bruno. As the station inspector Cohen is playing the bad guy but so good is his performance that you can’t help but feel for the lonely man. It won’t happen but so good is Cohen’s performance that he deserves a Best Supporting Oscar nomination… his performance in Hugo is one that I will remember for a long time to come.
This is a stunning film that has certainly made my list of Top Films of 2011. Visually spectacular Hugo is a film that deserves to become a family classic.
Year: 2011
Director: Martin Scorsese
Stars: Asa Butterfield, Ray Winstone, Jude Law, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Chloe Grace Moretz
Classification: TBC
Runtime: 126 mins
Rating: 