Hugo

By John Viacrucis
Contributing Writer

For nearly most of his career, Martin Scorsese made films about gangsters, violence, and people who have no hope of redemption. However, he’s also known for promoting the preservation of film for all future generations. With this latest film, Scorsese manages to convey his message of preserving cinema, without the use of violence. Not only that, he manages to find a way to convey said message, via 3-D.

Hugo, based on the novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick, tells the story of an orphan (Asa Butterfield) who works and lives in a train station in Paris. When he’s not manning the station’s clocks, he is stealing food to survive, as well as various toy parts in order to fix an automaton left by his late father (Jude Law), as well as eluding capture from the station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen). He also manages to sneak into a movie theater so he could watch movies. Along the way, he meets Isabelle (Chloe Moretz), who happens to be the goddaughter of the toy store owner (Ben Kingsley) who’s toys Hugo steals from. As our hero discovers, the toy store owner is famed director Georges Melies, an innovative filmmaker who is living on hard times, due to circumstances beyond his control. Somehow, both the automaton and Melies are connected, and Hugo has to find a way.

One of the things that first struck me was how Martin Scorsese managed to shoot all of the film in 3-D. Over the past couple of years, audiences were assaulted with live action 3-D movies that are either okay, or 3-D movies that only hide the fact that the movie isn’t good. Thankfully, Mr. Scorsese managed to not only make a great 3-D film, but also show filmmakers how to do 3-D right. Take the opening scene for example: when we go inside the train station, it almost feels like we’re actually inside the station. Another example is when we see Hugo inside the station clock. It almost feels like we’re inside the clock. Probably, the most impressive 3-D shot, is when we’re shown scenes from classic silent films, such as Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last, as well as Melies’s own A Voyage to the Moon. Not only does he show clips of the original silents, he also pays homage to them in a couple scenes, particularly the recreation of the famous scene from Safety Last, where the protagonist is hanging onto one of the clock’s arms.

The performances in the film are excellent, with special mention to Ben Kingsley’s portrayal of Georges Melies as a broken man. The scene where he explains his film career, as well as his fall, will almost bring a tear to a movie-goer’s eye. Also worth mentioning is Sacha Baron Cohen’s Inspector Gustav, who is unfairly portrayed in the trailers as a bumbling authority figure. He is that, but there’s also a sense of sadness in his life, which helps explain the character more. Asa Butterfield manages to convey a sense of lost innocence in the role of the title character. He also manages to convey a sense of curiosity, especially as he tries to find out the purpose of the mysterious automaton. I can almost relate to him in a way. Both Hugo and I enjoy watching movies, and both of us have dealt with tragedy, though in my case, it was my father having a stroke when I was five.

The technical craft of the film is nothing short of impressive. From Dante Ferretti’s production design (the recreation of a train station in Paris circa 1931 for example), to Thelma Schoonmaker’s effortless editing, to the wondrous score by Howard Shore, these combine to make a masterpiece. It is nothing short of being one of the best films of the year.

Best of all, this film shows that Martin Scorsese isn’t bound to one genre. This is his first family film, and hopefully it isn’t the last. My hope is that he tries out other genres, like a Western, or a Horror film.

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