Hugo

Rating: 7/10 (21 December 2012)

Golden Globe winning, and Oscar and BAFTA nominated director Martin Scorsese (GoodFellas) is more used to adult films, mostly with gangsters, gambling, violence, drugs and other dark subjects, so it was really surprising to many of his fans that he would be directing both a children's film and releasing it in 3D, but it was one that I must see because it swept the awards in technical categories. Basically, set in the 1930's, Hugo Cabret (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas star Asa Butterfield) is the orphaned boy who lives in a Paris train station, scrounges from vendors for food, and steals mechanical parts from local toy shop owner Georges Méliès (Sir Ben Kingsley), and has a gift for fixing things. One day getting away from persistent Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen), he meets Méliès who is unhappy he has been stealing mechanical parts, and he snatches his father's notebook that he needs to help him mend the treasured robotic man called an automaton. Hugo's Father (Jude Law) taught him his mechanical skills for mending clocks and devices, always took him to the movies as they were emerging into the world, and he found the automaton abandoned from the museum he worked in, but he died in a fire before he was able to fix it, and Hugo is sure that it may contain a message for him. Méliès is impressed by the boy's skills to mend his toys and devices, so he makes him a deal to give back his notebook if he fixes things for him, and the boy also meets his adventure loving god-daughter Isabelle (Kick-Ass's Chloë Grace Moretz), who may hold the key, literally, to the automaton's purpose. Hugo borrows the key Isabelle has, and having fixed the automaton's functions turns the key lock to operate it, and eventually it does not write, it draws a famous image, the face in the moon from the famous silent film A Trip to the Moon, aka Voyage to the Moon, and it includes the signature Isabelle's godfather. The two friends take the drawing to Isabelle's godmother Jeanne (Helen McCrory) for an explanation, she refuses to tell them anything because it brings back difficult memories, and when the children hide from Georges they uncover other hidden drawings, the old man feeling betrayed demands the boy leaves. Hugo and Isabelle ask bookshop owner Monsieur Labisse (Sir Christopher Lee) for information about Georges Méliès, they are directed to the filmmaking section, where they meet the author of a book they study, Rene Tabard (Michael Stuhlbarg) recognises and highly admires the work Méliès, Tabard is convinced that he died and all his films were destroyed, only one surviving, the one from their drawing. The next day the three of them plan to show the last known copy of A Trip to the Moon, Jeanne is hesitant what the reaction of Georges will be, Tabard recognises her as former actress Jeanne d'Alcy, and they watch the film, unaware after it finishes that Georges was also watching, and he reminisces on his filmmaking career in the early days of the 20th Century. He transformed filmmaking, which started with modest short pictures with no plots by the Lumière Brothers, who saw them as a short-lived fad, but Méliès was one of the pioneers who created imaginative and inspiring stories with genre, but the popularity died when World War I came and most of the films were melted for the chemicals to make him his money back, and he used what he had to create the toy shop. Hugo plans to give Georges the automaton as a surprise, but the Station Inspector catches him, knowing he has been the one snooping in the station clock, stealing things and being an orphan, and after some chasing and near miss moments Georges helps him. The film ends with Tabard introducing Méliès back to the public and showcasing that over eighty of his films thought to be gone have been recovered, Hugo is made part of the family, with Isabelle writing a story on the events, and the automaton sits still in a peaceful room, posed like it will draw more. Also starring Ray Winstone as Uncle Claude, Emily Mortimer as Lisette, Frances De La Tour as Madame Emilie, Richard Griffiths as Monsieur Frick, Dead Set's Kevin Eldon as Policeman, Edmund Kingsley, Ben's son as Camera Technician, Francesca Scorsese, Martin's daughter as Child at Café and Martin Scorsese as Photographer. Butterfield gives a cute and clever performance, Moretz as usual is fantastic with her adventurous and enthusiastic personality, and the supporting cast members, especially Kingsley, play their parts very well, I even liked Cohen as silly comic relief. Almost half of the film sees a boy seeking something from his father, and the rest is a magnificent tribute to the origins of early silent cinema (including clips of Train Pulling into a Station, The Great Train Robbery, Intolerance, The General and The Kid), it makes you feel just like watching Cinema Paradiso, the same message of how cinema makes you escape into a magical world where anything is possible, it also works as a family friendly journey into family with funny and heart-warming moments, a most worthwhile period fantasy adventure. It won the Oscars for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects, and it was nominated for Best Costume Design, Best Editing for Thelma Schoonmaker, Best Music for Howard Shore, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay and Best Motion Picture of the Year, it won the BAFTA for Best Production Design and Best Sound, and it was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Make Up & Hair, Best Original Music and Best Special Visual Effects, and it was nominated the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Original Score. Very good!