Isaac Siegemund-Broka
Staff Writer
When the Internet Movie Database “Keywords” section for a film includes the words “robot,” “1930s, “ “clock,” and “orphan,” one has to wonder if such strikingly different aspects could ever come together in a coherent plot. Despite all odds, Martin Scorsese’s new film “Hugo” combines these divergent subjects into a vivid and inspiring story suitable for all audiences.
Though its acting and directing occasionally dip into maladroit tastelessness, the inventive plot and visual splendor of “Hugo” drive the film to definitive success.
When Hugo Cabret’s watchmaker father (Jude Law) is killed in a museum fire, Hugo (Asa Butterfield) goes to live with his drunkard Uncle Charlie (Ray Winstone), who services the clocks in the Paris Montparnasse train station. As Uncle Charlie is rarely around to do his job, Hugo takes up the task of managing time at the station—as well as avoiding detection by the station’s eccentric station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen), who has a particular hate for orphans like Hugo.
Meanwhile, Hugo attempts to repair one of the only things his father left behind: a complicated automaton, or humanoid robot. In his quest to unfurl the robot’s secret, Hugo becomes entangled with the life and family of George Méliès (Ben Kingsley), a retired filmmaker who runs a shabby toy store inside the station.
“Hugo” is based on “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” a historical science-fiction children’s book written and illustrated by Brian Selznick. The storyline of “Hugo” is brilliantly original and inspired, but the film can hardly be given any credit in this area; praise for the plot would more rightly go to the book, which tells the same story even better.
“Hugo” does a surprisingly good job of delivering its complicated and worldly message—that the world is essentially a clock with no extra pieces—to children in a manageable and not condescending fashion. While its few lapses into foolish “kids movie” drivel are regrettable, on a whole, the thought-provoking ideas of “Hugo” are not lost in its attempt to be accessible.
“Hugo” finds a strongpoint in its cinematic beauty, the work of two-time Academy Award winning cinematographer Robert Richardson. Each scene features a color pallet and atmosphere fitting its action and mood, with vibrant oranges and blues dominating the more grandiose moments while sophisticated browns and pastel colors accentuate the intimacy of quieter moments.
The child actors playing Hugo and Méliès’s daughter (Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace Moretz, respectively) give rather inconsistent performances, at times having strong emotional presence but often falling to clumsy and unbelievable over-acting.
Ben Kingsley has filled every role from Mohandas Gandhi to Dr. Watson and never fails to do an exceptional job. As the broken, weary George Méliès, Kingsley skillfully shows his character’s vulnerability both through disparaging bitterness and sad weakness.
Romanticized nostalgia colors the white space left between winding lines drawn by this accessible but thought-provoking and worldly film. Though lacking consistency in acting and directing, “Hugo” ultimately validates itself by way of a brilliant plot and an overall beautiful appearance.
“Hugo” is rated PG and is playing in theatres everywhere.
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