Hugo

Scorsese is a brand.  His name implies a certain sort of filmmaking, despite the fact that his career is made up of eclectic choices and creative cul-de-sacs.  And Hugo (2011) is probably the least likely of his projects to have come to fruition.  A 3D children’s film built around French silent cinema, even the author of the book it’s based on realized the audience was a select group of imaginative cinephiles.  But surprisingly, for all its Zemeckis-style CGI visuals and big-budget gloss , Hugo winds up fitting quite well into Scorsese’s offscreenobsession with film preservation and the magic of our collective cinematic origins.

After the death of his father, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) escapes the orphanage by hiding in a post-WW1 Paris train station, winding the clocks to avoid detection.  His mechanical skills soon come to the attention of a lonely toy vendor, Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley), whose past life as a silent filmmaker has sadly faded away.  But Hugo is in possession of Méliès favorite creation, an automaton that rekindles memories for both of them…and may provide a new beginning as well.

 

An almost verbatim restaging of Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Scorsese uses the book’s illustrations as a launching point for the film’s intricate visual style, a world full of clockwork labyrinths, rumbling steam trains and colorful crowds.  Cinematographer Robert Richardson (who won an Oscar for his work) uses the 3D effects to create a beautiful sense of depth and scale; it’s like living inside an impeccably designed snow globe (created by Dante Ferretti, who also went home a winner). Scorsese seems to perk up as Méliès story moves to the forefront, taking great joy in recreating the famed director’s glass-walled studio and early cinematic illusions.

 

Hugo is built as meticulously as its featured automaton.  But it’s also a bit of an empty shell.  The emotional narrative should work - Scorsese populates his world with endearing characters all searching for their happy ending - but all that winding makes the methods seem transparent.  Perhaps it’s the attempt to straddle a children’s fable with a thinly disguised fundraiser for film preservation that’s at the root of the problem.  Either way, Hugo is a charming technical achievement the fits surprisingly well into Scorsese’s oeuvre.

 

This is no re-release cash grab from Arrow Films.  Their new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Limited Edition is loaded with lengthy new interviews from the likes of Robert Richardson, Brian Selznick, and composer Howard Shore.  You know, the kind of stuff the original studio should have included in the first place but couldn’t be bothered with.  The list goes on with four new visual essays covering film preservation, the early days of cinema, Méliès tragic personal history and Scorsese’s unusual career trajectory.  All the archival stuff from the previous release is tacked on as well.  But perhaps most exciting is the inclusion of the 3D presentation (2D is there too) since tracking down an old copy is all but impossible.  It’s staggeringly beautiful to look at!  A fold-out poster and illustrated collector’s booklet are also included.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tormented

Image
The west coast always struggled to create a creepy atmosphere on screen.  All that southern California sunshine just doesn’t lend itself to ghostly apparitions or gothic castles.  But  Tormented  (1960) gives it a good try, staging its opening scene in an abandoned lighthouse where blackmail turns into murder - and one cover up leads to another.  Director Bert I. Gordon, better known for his giant-sized - but low-budget - monster movies, works well at this level, turning in a film that delivers small scares but perhaps his most  professional finished product. Tom Stewart (played by genre regular Richard Carlson) is a fairly successful jazz pianist whose impending marriage to Meg Hubbard (Susan Gordon) will put him in an entirely new tax bracket.  Trouble is his old flame, Vi (Juli Reding), isn’t taking this lying down.  After  allowing  her to fall to her death in the opening scene, Tom is haunted by disembo...
Read more

All Ladies Do It / Frivolous Lola

Image
Every semi-professional review of erotica probably starts off with the same question:  what’s the difference between porn and art?  The internet age has essentially done away with foreplay; sex is merely the act of completion itself, minus the threat of any malware or suspicious browser activity.  But the work of Italian director Tinto Brass, for all its leering upskirt shots of derrieres and pubic hair, still communicates something that websites like Pornhub never will:  the art of seduction.  All Ladies Do It  (1992), a breezy sexual adventure, follows Diana (Claudia Koll) whose marriage is threatened by her fantasies of dalliances with other men, stories her husband believes are nothing more than exciting role play.  But her loose definition of adultery inspires plenty of promiscuous hook-ups, taking advantage of any (ahem)  loophole  that provides a quick thrill.   Flirting with some hardcore sequences (there...
Read more

The Cat and the Canary

Image
My favorite directors have always been showoffs:  Hitchcock, DePalma, Spielberg (when he’s feeling frisky) and gonzo auteurs like Sam Raimi.  There’s just something about their cinematic ambition, constantly reminding the audience that, yes, there actually  is  someone behind the camera calling the shots.  And that directorial discontent shines through even in the early days of the medium, such as Paul Leni’s 1927 adaptation of  The Cat and the Canary .  While the rest of the industry was still learning the basics of visual language, Leni fills his frame with tracking shots, POVs and dramatic lighting that set the standard for every spook show to come!  Gathered for the reading of the last will and testament of eccentric recluse Cyrus West,  the potential heirs meet up in his decrepit mansion to discover who will inherit the estate and family jewels.  Predictably there is some petty jealousy when young Annab...
Read more