Martin Scorsese Scores

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2012)

When I think of Martin Scorsese I think of violence, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and a ton of profanity. I think of brilliant films about gangsters and one about a psychotic taxi driver. But now I think about Hugo, Martin Scorsese's latest directorial effort. In fact, I think about Hugo a lot. It is a brilliant film. Not perfect, but brilliant.
Hugo is brilliant on a multitude of levels: as a fable, as an interpretation of film history, as a venue for stellar acting performances, as a triumph of cinematic photography which involves 3D imagery, and as a vehicle for wondrous entertainment. That Hugo is directed by the same guy who directed films in which two men are savagely beaten by men with baseball bats and then buried still barely alive, a boxing ring's ropes drip the blood of a combatant, a taxi driver becomes a revered mass murderer, and a police captain is thrown off a roof, is testament to the genius that is Martin Scorsese.
The story involves an orphaned waif named Hugo Cabret (played tenderly and effectively by Asa Butterfield) who steals to survive and lives among the gears and levers of the enormous clocks in a train station. His life is tormented by the owner of a toy shop ( Ben Kingsley at his best) in the train station and his freedom is in jeopardy due to the efforts of a weirdly pathetic police officer, played by Sasha Baron Cohen (who was the "hero" of Borat). Hugo dedicates enormous effort to repairing an automaton his father (played briefly by Jude Law) found in disrepair at a museum. During the course of his travails, Hugo meets a young lady named Isabelle (touchingly brought to life by Chloe Grace Moretz) who is the same age as he is.
Turns out that Isabelle is cared for by the toy shop owner. And it also turns out that the toy shop owner is Georges Melies, the onetime director and star of some of the first movies ever made. Melies, in case you don't know, is a real person who did in fact transform movies into the medium we now know. The film also accurately references the Lumiere brothers and their camera. The skills with which fantasy is weaved with fact alone compels watching this film.
In the film, and in fact, when Melies' success fades, partly out of depression and partly in need of money, he melts his films for the cellulose he can sell. Largely as a result of Hugo's efforts to repair the automaton, Melies stature is dramatically and appropriately resurrected.
As I said, the film isn't perfect. The police officer who harasses Hugo is played competently enough by Cohen, but the character just doesn't fit into the film's contextual essence or tone. Picture Gilligan taking the place of Ugarte in Casablanca and you get my point.
Visually, Hugo is a miracle; its cinematic imagery, nuanced by 3D technology, merits a thunderous standing ovation. The film's cinematographer, Robert Richardson, has helped fashion a film that has set new standards to be emulated for years to come.
I recently read that Martin Scorsese obsesses over every detail, no matter how minute, of every facet of his films. Annoying as that trait may be to those who work with him to make a movie, it has resulted in sustained artistic excellence spanning more than four decades. Any list of the best directors ever inevitably includes Martin Scorsese. Consider just some of his films, Casino, The Departed, Good Fellas, Taxi Driver, The Last Waltz, Raging Bull, Gangs of New York, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and you understand why.
As for all time great films, add Hugo to the list.