HUGO : archive from 23rd January 2012.

Saw 'HUGO' tonite at my local multiplex. Martin Scorsese's first family film and he has created a layered, beautiful, rich, rewarding film that easily ranks up there with his earlier master works 'Goodfellas', 'Casino', 'The Departed' and 'Taxi Driver' but for very different reasons.

A great cast including child actors Asa Butterfield in the lead role at Hugo Cabret and Chloe Grace Moretz as his young friend Isabelle ably supported by Ben Kingsley in the role as the historically cinema significant Georges Melies, Jude Law as Hugo's father, Sacha Baron Cohen as Gustave, the Train Station Inspector, and various other names including Christopher Lee, Frances de la Tour, Richard Griffiths and Ray Winstone.

Set in the 1930's Paris we see the young orphaned Hugo living in the train station  maintaining the clocks to ensure they run on time and are kept in good working order - a kills he learned from his mechanically minded father and uncle. He leads his live in secret, living in the tunnels and passageways that wind their way through the labyrinth that is the busy Gare Montparnasse train station. The one thing that connects Hugo with his dead father (Law) is the automaton that his father began work on but never completed. Over the years Hugo has salvaged the necessary parts to almost complete the task but the one piece needed to bring it back to life is still missing and it's crucial whereabouts remain unknown - the heart-shaped key to restore (mechanical) life.

Working in the train station is an old toy marker, George Melies (Kingsley) who runs a small shop, and who Hugo has a brush with resulting in him being introduced to his god-daugher Isabelle (Grace Moretz). What follows is a series of coincidences that sees Melies contribution to modern cinema finally realised after almost 30 years, the heart-shaped key located and the automaton beautifully restored to 'life', the discovery of who really invented the automaton, and a wonderfully realised final set-piece that (almost) restores faith in humanity.

This film is Scorsese's nod to the early history of cinema focusing on Georges Melies enormous contribution to the craft bound together by early friendships, a Paris train station, machines, magic, tragedy & loss. The opening tracking shot is stunning and captures you from the get-go, and from this point on we are on a beautifully realised joy ride that will surprise and delight with every frame.

Oscar worthy for sure and this will not disappoint. At a cost of about US$160M to bring to the screen, this just about recovered it's budget with a haul of US$186M. At the awards ceremonies though for that year it garnered five Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction, as well as five other nominations including Best Direction for Martin Scorsese, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also picked up the Best Director Award at the Golden Globes and two other nominations, and at the BAFTA's is picked up Best Production Design and Best Sound Awards and eight other nominations. All up 'Hugo' collected 62 award wins globally and a further 138 nominations.

Fantastic film making proving Scorsese is a master story teller at the top of his game, and for me it was one of the top films of the year. At the time my recommendation was to catch this on the big screen, but you'll now have to make do with the biggest small screen you can find at home and watch it on DVD/Bluray.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-