Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (****)
Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Starring: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow, Viola
Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright, Zoe Caldwell
Seen: March 10th 2012
**** Out of ****
The writer of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran
Foer, also wrote another novel I thoroughly enjoyed, Everything is Illuminated
(made into a rather odd but enjoyable movie starring Elijah Wood). I’ve not yet
read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but after seeing the movie I’m
planning on reading it soon. This is a fantastic story of self-discovery and
finding the light at the end of a very dark tunnel, for multiple characters.
Oskar Schell (Horn) is a nine year old boy going through a relatively
heavy ordeal. He lives in New York in 2002, the year after his father Thomas
(Hanks) died on “The Worst Day”, 9/11. He was incredibly close to his father,
and relives many moments through flashbacks during the movie. Thomas always
nurtures an inquiring mind in Oskar through various mind games and treasure
hunts, and these moments in fact do become the extremely loud driving force
behind Oskar that is the basis of this story. Oskar isn’t close with his mother
Linda (Bullock), who seems to have enormous difficulty understanding Oskar and
coping with his Asperger’s Sydrome. Oskar’s grandmother (Caldwell) lives across
the street and he routinely communicates with her at any hour by walkie-talkie.
She has a renter living in her home, a very mysterious person whom Oskar has never
met.
A year after his father’s death, Oskar goes into his room for the
first time, the urge to find out whether his dad left him one last message trumping
his fear of finally letting his father go. He knocks a blue vase from a shelf by
accident, and when it breaks Oskar finds a small envelope with a key in it. The
envelope is simply marked ‘Black’,
and Oskar starts the enormous task of finding and interviewing every person in
New York going by the name in an attempt at finding the origin of the key. Oskar
finds an unlikely companion for his search when he goes looking for his
grandmother one night – the renter (von Sydow). The renter turns out to be an
old man who does not speak and only communicates through handwritten flashcards
and the words YES and NO tattooed into his left and right palms respectively.
Oskar and the renter become friends of sorts as they both challenge each other
while searching for the key and the elusive last message from Thomas to Oskar.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a beautiful movie for every man
who has ever loved his father with some truly beautiful family moments between
Oskar and his mother producing the pinnacle of this stunning movie. There is a
lovely level of attention to detail, revealed in something so small as an adult
hesitating for a moment before picking up a drink in front of a child. Thomas
Horn is a revelation as young Oskar, and Sandra Bullock seems to have struck a
deep vein since The Blind Side. Tom Hanks is also his usual brilliant self, and
Max von Sydow had me awed with his beautiful rendition of the renter, without
saying one word in the entire movie. Those who write this movie off as syrupy or
overly sentimental should take a long hard look at the clumps of coal they call
their hearts, as the subject matter is handled with a respect and gentleness that
I haven’t seen for quite some time. I loved Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,
enormously so.
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