“Saw Beauty and the Beast 3D on Fri with some friends. Such a blast seeing it up on the big screen, but I dont think the third dimension really rendered too well. Other weekend awesomeness meant that if I wanted to make sure I didn’t fall behind this week (American Idiot is in town starting on Tue, and since that show is an obsession I’ll be at all 8 performances) I had to cram in a double today at the Fenway. Had to get a slightly earlier start to what would have otherwise been a lazy Sunday, but I think it was worth it.
My personal double feature started with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. As I walked in, I was hit with a realization along the lines of “”aw \m/ this one’s gonna make me bawl my eyes out, isn’t it?”” I typically dont cry at movies (though if Eli Roth and Brett Easton Ellis can admit to crying at Toy Story 3, I have no shame in saying I did as well), but knowing that this movie centered around a kid dealing with his father’s death, I expected it to hit me pretty hard, esp since I’d had a dream about my daddy the night before. I was in the study at my house, and he was in his chair at the computer. I walked by, and he grabbed my hand, asking me about the ink on my wrist. I tried lying and said it was nothing, then fessed up about it. Since I was in honesty mode, I showed him the eagle on my stomach. He asked if it was for him (which it is), put his hand on it, and I felt my side heat up. The rest of the conversation we had will stay between the two of us, but the point is that I was already in a pretty emotionally vulnerable state walking in.
I’ll cut to the chase. Yes, it did make me cry towards the end. But c’mon I was a lame duck. It felt like the whole movie was contrived just to make you overly emotional. If the father/son relationship didnt get you, it’d be the 9/11 backdrop or the mini stories of all the people that our boy hero, Oscar, encounters, or something surrounding the mute renter. But if you look past that element (which isnt easy, it was laid on thick), the film felt kinda disjointed. It was long and some pieces just dont quite flow into the others, like it was trying too hard to cover as many bases as possible to get a strong reaction from the audience.
I did absolutely love Thomas Horn, our fresh faced Hollywood newbie playing Oscar. It’s certainly A LOT to ask for a kid who has never been in a movie to carry an entire film like this one, but he pulled it off brilliantly. I loved his energy and his thirst and determination. And the rant he goes in right after he meets the Renter–amazing. Speaking of the Renter, also a brilliant performance from Max von Sydow–one that’s attracting some serious Oscar nomination chatter. Srsly, what’s the deal with silence this year? First The Artist and now this guy. Still kinda fascinating how one can say so much without ever uttering a word.
Well the kitties are clamoring for dinner and I got a theater meeting to get to soon. Looks like the other write up will hafta wait til tomorrow.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n