{"id":2072,"date":"2011-11-23T13:41:35","date_gmt":"2011-11-23T20:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=2072"},"modified":"2011-11-23T13:44:22","modified_gmt":"2011-11-23T20:44:22","slug":"review-hugo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=2072","title":{"rendered":"Review: HUGO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>With the best use of 3D in a dramatic feature I\u2019ve seen to date, the great Martin Scorsese\u2019s \u201cHugo\u201d will make many filmmakers consider the format for their next film. But the story falls short of the lovely visuals.<\/p>\n

Had Scorsese wanted to make a bio-pic about filmmaker Georges M\u00e9li\u00e8s, he probably should have taken a more traditional approach. The pioneering French director, M\u00e9li\u00e8s made over 500 films experimenting and successfully creating techniques that today we take for granted. His \u201cA Trip to the Moon\u201d from 1902 is one of M\u00e9li\u00e8s\u2019 best known works and influenced every filmmaker thereafter. And his personal story certainly could make a terrific stand alone feature. Key to understanding \u201cHugo\u201d is knowing a bit of M\u00e9li\u00e8s\u2019 history. Although he made over 500 films and was one of his era\u2019s most successful directors, he reportedly ended his life in poverty.<\/p>\n

Onto this biographic backdrop, Scorsese tries to craft a family adventure film in 3D from a script by John Logan (who he worked with on \u201cThe Aviator\u201d). The script itself is adapted from a children\u2019s book by Brian Selznick. The effect of all that talent is summed up by one of the characters in \u201cHugo\u201d played extremely well by Chlo\u00eb Grace Moretz. The character, Isabelle, chastises titular hero Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) about being enigmatic, and she says something to the effect that such mystery doesn\u2019t become him. And it is precisely the mystery that fails the story in \u201cHugo.\u201d Played broadly with layers of endless flashback and lengthy exposition, not one eventual revelation surprises us. \u201cHugo\u201d becomes coldly academic appealing more to cineastes and filmmakers than to its key family demographic.<\/p>\n

The story should have been more fun. It is after all about a little boy named Hugo who has lost his parents and goes to work with his alcoholic uncle in a train station where he maintains several complicated clocks. And for a while it is fun as the camera twists and turns through the walls of the station following the scurrying Hugo as he goes about his daily routine. But the routine quickly become tiresome even as he spies on people from behind the clock faces. The fact that the images are so finely cut with stunning detail helps keep viewers engaged but the pretty pictures aren\u2019t enough to carry the film. <\/p>\n

In time, Hugo develops a friendship with the inquisitive Isabelle who has also lost her parents and lives with her grandparents. The two explore the station together and eventually discover the key to a rare automaton (clockwork robot) that may hide a message that will change their lives. The key mysteries involve why Isabelle\u2019s grandfather (played by Ben Kingsley) is so sad and what message the automaton holds. Unfortunately, the unraveling is less than impactful and left me a little hallow.<\/p>\n

Of note is \u201cBorat\u2019s\u201d Sacha Baron Cohen delivering a little slapstick as the station inspector. But instead of his antics coming out of the Buster Keaton school they feel very flat and even routine. In one sequence, the inspector chases Hugo into a caf\u00e9 and crashes into a cello smashing it senselessly to pieces. Such destruction isn\u2019t funny and served no comedic purpose. It was just destructive. What was revealing to me was the laugh from the audience when a critical scene from Keaton\u2019s own 1926 classic \u201cThe General\u201d flashed on the screen. I was surprised that Scorsese did not pick up on how flat Cohen is most of the time. Only later is part of his character\u2019s painful backstory revealed and, thankfully, we are spared another frustrating flashback.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not all bad news. If you are into the history of filmmaking, \u201cHugo\u201d might enchant you. And if you\u2019ve yet to be smitten with 3D, this film will go a long way to promote the format. From what I\u2019ve heard, Scorsese\u2019s contemporary Francis Ford Coppola toyed around with 3D with less than stellar results in his quasi-horror film \u201cTwixt\u201d that might have a hard time seeing theaters. Scorsese proves that there is merit to the format, especially in a movie that celebrates the work of a great filmmaking pioneer. But every filmmaker worth his salt knows that image is secondary to telling a good story. And Scorsese, one the best directors of all time, well knows this, and he probably also knows that his “Hugo” is a triumph of form over substance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan considers Martin Scorsese’s latest foray into the third dimension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2072"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2080,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072\/revisions\/2080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}