Back in 2007 Martin Scorsese bought the rights to an award winning book, called The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. 5 years later the movie has finally hit the big screen heralding Scorsese's first venture in three dimensions.
Set in a railway station in 1930’s Paris, Hugo tells the story of Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), a young boy who loses his father, but continues his work of maintaining the clocks of a railway station. From behind the walls of the station , Hugo scampers around on a daily basis, stealing food, mending clocks and fixing an automaton left to him by his late father. All the time the young orphan is watching over his shoulder as the station master (Sacha Baron Cohen) constantly tries to capture him and send him off to an orphanage. Throw Isabelle (Chloe Moretz) into the mix as an accomplice, the 2 endeavour to get the automaton working, which leads them on another journey involving a quite unhappy shopkeeper (Ben Kingsley), who has a hidden past, that is like nothing they could ever imagine.
The performances in Hugo are top notch. Asa Butterfield (Nanny McPhee) has more or less the bulk of the movie riding on his young shoulders, and he carries this off with ease. There's never a moment where you doubt his performance, which is as innocent and smart as the character he's portraying. Same goes for Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass). While she might be able to hack guys into pieces in Kick-Ass, here we get a very sweet, caring and classical looking Hit-Girl. Maybe its all in the hair, but Moretz has a very old school movie star vibe about her performance here. Moving up in ages, Sacha Baron Cohen drops his antagonistic Borat style characters for something far more human and involving. There is a great sincerity to his character, which gradually grows and blossoms as the movie progresses. And then, to wrap it all up, Ben Kingsley just blows everyone else off the screen. His version of Georges Méliès is one of a depressed and grumpy individual, but one that is likeable and has great screen presence. And like Baron Cohen, he warms up in the latter stages, rounding off what is one of the best collective bunch of performances in quite some time.
Scorsese has long been regarded as a master director, and when it was announced that Hugo would be shot in 3D, the world (ok! some of us) wondered could the Goodfellas director do anything that may reignite the 3D world. It’s safe to say he has. Combining the old school gimmicks (on occasion) with a great sense of depth, this is one of the greatest examples of 3D yet to grace the digital screen. Whatever Scorsese has done here, is rather magical. The screening I watched had a glitch with the lights, which weren’t completely switched off by the time we are introduced to 1930s Paris. Within seconds, as the camera zoomed into the train station, I was completely engrossed. I wasn’t aware the lights were eventually turned off in the cinema until minutes later. Hugo pulls you in, in a way that is even superior to Avatar. A movie that is worth watching again and again in 3D, because there is so much happening. The specks of dust, the snowflakes and the incredible close ups of Kingsley and Baron Cohen are at times, jawdropping.
The entire look of the movie, which for the best part is mainly set in the train station is superb. Truth be told, I’m not a fan of period pieces or classical looking movies, but Hugo bowled me over. The attention to detail here combined with so much love and care that has gone into every digital frame,is testament to a director who genuinely cares about every second on screen.
Hugo though, is not without its faults. At times, scenes seem a little big dragged out and, while it plods along, it does seem a little bit slow. While its not enough to derail it (had to get a train pun in here somewhere), it is rather noticeable.
This is a huge love letter to the genre of cinema from one of it’s greatest pupils, Martin Scorsese. It’s probably not until half way through that you being to realise that this is a throwback to the early days of moving images and in particular Georges Méliès. But what a throwback it is. Handled with impeccable care, Scorsese in his love letter to cinema, will introduce numerous generations to one of the pioneers of cinema. And thats where another problem lies. Many generations have grown up with blockbuster after blockbuster with amazing special effects. And while Georges Méliès was famous for many technical developments including hand painted color, time lapse photography and many others, alot of this will be lost on todays Twi-hard audience, who in turn may find this boring. While this may not be to everyone's taste, if you have any love for the institution that makes you laugh, cry, cheer and squeeze a loved one’s hand, you will love Hugo. While it just falls short of perfection, this is a true masterpiece by a true master.
