A movie’s true magic

Hugo (2011)
Certified: U
Duration: 127 minutes
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloe Grace Moritz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jude Law, Christopher Lee, Helen McRory, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emily Mortimer, Ray Winstone, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths, Marco Aponte
KRS release

Hugo is what a film directed by a man enamoured with the medium looks like.

The film is spearheaded with excellent performances- Johan Galea

Martin Scorsese makes a welcome return to form as he delivers a film that is deceptively tagged for children.

It captures the essence and beauty of film-making and how movies inspire and elicit the dreams that transform our lives. This is a reminder of what film-making should be all about – the channelling and fabricating of dreams.

In his entire career Mr Scorsese has always delivered masterpieces of celluloid cool and drama.

Hugo had to be his first family film in which he delivers a rich, fantasy, flighty tale that nails us to our seats and makes us self aware of the whole relationship between the making and viewing processes.

The film takes us to 1930s Paris where we meet an orphan named Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) who lives in a train station, lives off the food he steals and swipes small mechanical parts.

He winds up the station’s clocks and observes the workers in the station, among them: florist Lisette (Emily Mortimer) who notices that the station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) is interested in her and Madame Emile (Frances de la Tour), the café owner who draws the attention of newspaper seller Monsieur Frick (Richard Griffiths). The station inspector is focused on capturing orphans, which he does accompanied by his Doberman. This causes Hugo much trouble and he tries to avoid the pair at all costs.

The boy steals mechanical parts to repair an automaton left to him by his father (Jude Law).

But he is caught by Georges (Ben Kingsley) – the owner of a toy shop and has to work for him or his sketchbook will be burned. He must also somehow pay off the value of all he stole from him.

Then there’s Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moritz) who is Georges’ godchild. She takes it upon herself to help Hugo. She has lived off the adventures found in the books that librarian Monsieur Labisse (Christopher Lee) provides for her and now wants a real life adventure.

That is when they learn that Georges is none other than Georges Méliès who was a famous film-maker. Everyone had thought he had die in World War I. So they dig deeper into the past and discover many truths and purposes in life.

One of the clever points of the film is how the character of one of the first masters of film Georges Méliès and his film A Trip To The Moon (1902) is incorporated into the story of Hugo Cabret. The result is eerie and dream-like in its temperament. There is also the fact that Martin Scorsese has directed his first 3D film and this should serve as a guideline to all those aspiring to make use of this technology.

The 3D is never obtrusive; it provides depth, adds layers to the story and immerses the audience into the movie. The beauty of it lies in how this modern technology brings to life the old silent movies of early cinema, especially in one scene where the crowd is watching a film in fear of a train approaching the camera.

The film is spearheaded with excellent performances by Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace Moritz.

In their characterisations and wide-eyed earnest performances you can see the love for a tale well told.

I will be sorely disappointed with the Academy if, come Oscar time, Hugo is left empty handed!