Hugo is Boss!

Rating: 10/10 (1 January 2012)

If there is one filmmaker that should have a feeling of accomplishment this year it's Martin Scorcese. With Hugo he's killed three birds with one stone. Firstly, he's entered the realm of 3-D filmmaking, secondly, he's indulged his lifelong passion of silent film and silent filmmakers and thirdlyhe's made a GREAT MOVIE! There's not one wasted piece of footage in this masterpiece that combines a great & classic story with new and cutting edge technology.
The story of a young orphaned boy who lives in the walls of a Paris train station is taken from the book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick. Via flashback we learn that Asa Butterfield's Hugo finds himself in this situation after his tinkering father (Jude Law in a very nice cameo) dies in a fire. He is then taken to the train station by his Uncle, who dies not soon after from alcohol consumption, but not before instilling upon Hugo the importance of setting the station's clocks. Through vents and peep holes Hugo observes the station regulars such as cute flower girl played by Emily Mortimer, an elderly bookseller played by Christopher Lee, a bitter station inspector played by Sasha Baron Cohen and an elderly toy shop owner played by Ben Kingsley. To obtain parts for a robotic invention left by his father Hugo steals various little toys from Kingsley's shop until he is finally caught. The two work out a deal allowing Hugo to work at the shop to pay off the items he's pilfered. Along the way he is soon befriended by Kingsley's goddaughter Isabelle played by Chloe Grace Moretz. Through Hugo's invention the two learn that Kingsley is actually the acclaimed filmmaker Georges Melies who directed the 1902 classic A Trip To The Moon. Thanks to Hugo, Melies, who believed himself a has-been after World War I, is now given a new legion of fans and Hugo is given a home.
The fact that such a story can be told, let alone in 3-D, by the same director that gave us Goodfellas and Casino is proof that Martin Scorcese may be the most versatile filmmaker of his time. In fact, you would never know this was first attempt at 3-D as he knows exactly which shots work best for the process. In addition to interesting looking peopledogs, clock parts, luggage, snowflakes, ashes and even dust enter the viewer's frame with realistic results.
Kingsley's performance is class all the way and he is supported nicely by Mortimer, Lee and Cohen. While Butterfield's performance as "Hugo" could garner the first child star Oscar since Anna Paquin won for The Piano. Of course the real star of the movie is the person who extracted those great performancesScorcese. What's ingenious about how he unfolds his tale is the combination of his love for the actual process of movie making. For instance, in a 3-D film where images come at the audience we see a shot of the first film where a train enters a train station which scares the audience who, not being use to movie magic, believes the train is coming at them. We see a shot of Hugo and Isabelle watching the classic Harold Lloyd film Safety Last where he dangles above the city from a clock, than we later see Hugo himself in the same position trying to escape Cohen and his dog. The call backs to classic and silent film as well as the subliminal messages here and there toward film preservation (a topic very near and dear to Scorcese) flow easily. Instead of obvious exposition or a hidden agenda Scorcese uses these devices to help tell the story. In my opinion, he could soon have a matching bookend to match the one he received for The Departed. Of course unlike the latter, this film has no blood, violence or offensive languagejust fun for anyone who wants to do what Kingsley's Melies character suggests"Watch the magic".