A Ribbon of Dreams

Rating: 10/10 (26 November 2011)

There are only seven or eight American directors now working who can be called true artists, visionary auteur's with a signature. They are Paul Thomas Anderson, Terrence Malick,Clint Eastwood, The Coen Brothers( who I treat at a single directorial intelligence), David Lynch, Steven Spielberg(despite his flaws), maybe Spike Jonze, and above all, Martin Scorsese. Martin has done four classic gangster movies, a (flawed) musical, documentaries, a brilliant, under-rated costume drama, two startling religious epics, two brilliant biopics about gifted, tormented men, a Hitchcockian thriller, and two superb black comedies, one of which ( After Hours) almost out-Lynches Lynch.). Admittedly, He has not yet done a War Movie or a Western. ( Though I would not count out either as possibilities.) Another genre he has not touched is the children's film. He has made two PG rated films, The Age Of Innocence and Kundun, but neither could be called a kids film. Now, Scorsese has made a children's film. Even more incredibly, he has made a 3-d children's film that is also a period film, and he has hit the ball out of the park. As a cinematic achievement- indeed,as a sheer feat of human imagination, Hugo can only be called superb. This film is an beautifully designed, shot and edited tribute to the innocence and imagination of childhood, AND a heart-felt love letter to the movies. Touching, funny and extraordinarily inspiring and redemptive, this is a masterpiece from a director who can only be called a god of the cinema. I will never forget Hugo.