A MAN CALLED OTTO : Tuesday 3rd January 2023

I saw the M Rated 'A MAN CALLED OTTO' earlier this week, following its release here in Australia on New Years Day. This American comedy drama film is Directed by Marc Forster and is the second film adaptation of the 2012 novel 'A Man Called Ove' by Swedish author Fredrik Backman, following the 2015 Swedish film of the same name Written and Directed by Hannes Holm. Marc Forster's prior film making credits take in the likes of 'Monster's Ball' in 2001, 'Finding Neverland' in 2004, 'The Kite Runner' in 2007, 'Quantum of Solace' in 2008, 'World War Z' in 2013 and 'Christopher Robin' in 2018. The film saw a limited release in the US from 30th December before a much wider release from 13th January, has garnered mixed or average reviews and has so far grossed US$3M at the Box Office on a production budget of US$50M.

The film opens up with Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks) searching amongst the shelves of his local 'Big Beaver' hardware store. He buy a sturdy enough looking hook, and very specifically five feet of thick rope. When he goes to pay, the teller charges him for two yards of rope, which Otto very astutely says that he has been overcharged by one foot, and why is he being charged for six feet of rope when he only needs, and has cut the length of, five feet? The teller tells him that the computer only charges by the yard, so Otto asks to see the manager, who is at lunch, so he asks to see the assistant manager, who turns up to be a young girl old enough to be his grand daughter, whom he greets with 'shouldn't you be in gym class'? This sets the tone of this grumpy sixty year old man, who it seems behind closed doors and more often that not under his breath, calls just about everyone he comes into contact with an 'idiot'!

We subsequently learn that Otto's wife, and life long love, Sonya (Rachel Keller) has recently passed away, and he was forced into taking a severance package from his job at a steel plant firm that he held down for about forty years. Otto leads a simple life and by a staunch set of principles, strict routines and a relatively short fuse, giving just about everyone in his gated neighbourhood community a hard time as he watches over it, and them, like a man on a mission. However, for this creature of habit, his life now has no meaning since the passing of Sonya, and so using the hook and the five feet of rope he purchased recently he drills a hole in the ceiling into the joist, screws in the hook, and ties the rope into a noose with the intention of hanging himself. 

As he places the noose around his neck he spies through his lounge room window a car with U-Haul trailer attempting to back into the side of the road directly opposite from where he lives. Perplexed by this notion, he dashes out the front to be greeted by Marisol (Mariana Trevino), her husband Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and two young daughters who are renting the place, with Tommy unsuccessfully attempting to back up his trailer with Marisol supposedly guiding her husband. Otto ultimately jumps into the car and successful reverses the car and trailer in with ease. Job done. He goes back inside his house, and hangs himself. But his attempt at taking his own life is thwarted as the hook snaps and he crashes down to the floor. 

Marisol and Tommy come knocking on Otto's door sometime later with a serving of Pollo Con Mole which he reluctantly takes and eats with gusto when he is alone later, but he has to eat it cold because just before trying to hang himself he had the electricity cut off and the telephone line disconnected too. Later Tommy asks Otto if he can borrow a set of allen keys to build some flat pack furniture and on another occasion a ladder to fix a window from the outside that won't open. Otto is obliging. 

Through flashbacks we see when Otto was in his early twenties (played by Truman Hanks, Tom's son) when he first set eyes on Sonya, and how their love for each other blossomed. Otto wanted to join the army but was refused entry because of medical reasons - he suffers from idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart, and so took up engineering instead. Upon successfully graduating from college, he asks Sonya to marry him, and she without hesitations says yes. In time, she becomes pregnant, and at the six month point they are both looking forward to the arrival of their first born. They decide to take a holiday to Niagara Falls before the birth of their child, and while travelling on a bus together to their destination, the bus careers of the road, rolls several times before coming to rest. Otto was in the toilet at the time and was saved from much of the impact, but Sonya was thrown out of the window, resulting in her becoming paralysed from the waist down and losing their baby. 

Otto regularly visits Sonya's final resting place in the graveyard bringing her fresh flowers and a chair to sit in where he talks to her about his failed attempts to reunite with her, the state of America and what's being going on in his community. His suicide attempts are through gassing himself in his car in his garage with carbon monoxide fumes but this is thwarted when Marisol comes banging on the garage door begging him to drive her to the hospital because Tommy has injured his foot trying to repair the window while balancing on the ladder, and Marisol can't drive. On another occasion Otto drives to the local train station with the intention of throwing himself in front of an oncoming train, but his thwarted when a man collapses on to the tracks suffering a cardiac arrest and Otto jumps down to save him. Otto is hailed a hero and generates a million views on a social media platform. On the last occasion, Otto take his shotgun with the intention of blowing his brains out, but he has a vision of Sonya telling him that its time to live his life, and so he shoots a hole in the ceiling instead. 

Otto is brought further into the life of his neighbours Anita (Juanita Jennings), her disabled husband Rueben (Peter Lawson Jones) and their surrogate son Jimmy (Cameron Britton) when it is revealed that their estranged real son whom that haven't seen in years and who now resides in Japan has, through the power of attorney, put their house on the market with Real Estate Agency 'Dye & Merica' and forced his Mum and Dad into care homes. When the Real Estate Agent (Mike Birbiglia) turns up to take possession of the house, Otto had done his homework on their behalf and uncovered some nefarious goings on that results in the agent departing empty handed, and Anita and Rueben remaining secure in their family home. 

On another occasion, Otto gets talking to a newspaper delivery lad called Malcolm (Mack Bayda), who it turns out is transgender and was taught in school by Sonya. He tells Otto that it was Sonya who accepted him for what he was and that helped him through a very tough few years at school. One night Malcolm turns up on Otto's doorstep asking if he could crash their for the night because his own Dad kicked him out. Otto agrees. In time, Otto shows Malcolm and Jimmy his daily routines around the community, with the desire that they can assume his mantle when he is gone. And on a final occasion, Otto teaches Marisol to drive his manual car, because he thinks it's crazy for a woman of some thirty years of age not to be able to drive. Otto thereafter gives his car to Malcolm, who was saving up his money from working three jobs, to buy a second hand Volkswagen much to Otto's chagrin. Otto then goes out and buys a brand new Chevrolet truck. 

All of these kind and compassionate acts, largely thanks to Marisol's outgoing and tell it as she sees it personality, leads Otto to open up, embrace the joys of life, and accept people for what and who they are. As Otto's relationships with his neighbours strengthens, he finds himself becoming increasingly involved in their lives and helping them through their various challenges. One day Otto collapses in the road outside his house due to his heart condition. Marisol is on hand at the hospital when he comes round. A nurse enters his room and asks her is she is the next of kin, to which she says yes. The nurse reveals to Marisol, that Otto has a 'big heart' and that he needs to take care of himself, at which point Marisol starts giggling which quickly turns into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. 

We fast forward a couple of years and Otto has found solace and purpose in helping others and rediscovering his love of life. In the end, Otto learns to let go of his grief and embrace the joys of living in the present moment. One day however, Tommy notices that Otto had not swept away the snow from his front door and the pavement running alongside his house, which was a ritual he used to do every day during winter when it snowed. Marisol runs over to the house with Tommy following behind. She runs upstairs to find Otto collapsed on the bed, face down, dead. Marisol is distraught and Tommy picks up a note from the dresser addressed to her. In it, he has written out his wishes in the event of his death. It reads that he was never extravagant with his money and as such there is sufficient funds to put their children through a good education, and whatever monies are left over they can spend it as they so choose. He also leaves his home to them, his brand new Chevrolet truck, with the only condition that only Marisol can drive it and under no circumstances can Tommy be permitted to do so, because she is no 'idiot', and that his funeral service is to be low key affair. 

'America's Dad' has become 'America's Grumpy Old Granddaddy' in this Hollywood remake of a popular Swedish film from a only a few years ago, that once again showcases Tom Hanks enormous talent as a dramatic Actor to be able to portray a curmudgeonly cantankerous crowd pleasing character that ultimately turns Otto into a heartwarming sentimental one that is able to finally let go of his past and embrace what he has left of his future. Hanks and Trevino are well cast as the Yin and Yang neighbours, and Director Forster has here crafted a film that is both subtle and restrained while also offering up some laugh out loud moments, and an ending that is sure to pull at the heartstrings, albeit way too predictable almost from the outset.

'A Man Called Otto' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Sunday 1st January 2023

The movie industry awards season is about to ramp up, having already seen the Gotham Awards presented on 28th November, the British Independent Film Awards on 4th December, the AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) Awards on 5th December, the People's Choice Awards on 6th December and the American Film Institute Top Ten Awards on 9th December amongst others. In the count down to Hollywood's Night of Night's, the Oscar Ceremony on 12th March, below is a list of the more significant upcoming awards presentations that might merit your attention, and scrutiny. 

* 10th January 2023 - The 80th Golden Globe Awards as chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

* 15th January 2023 - The 28th Critics Choice Awards.

* 11th February 2023 - The 27th Satellite Awards presented by the International Press Academy. 

* 18th February 2023 - The 75th Directors Guild of America Awards.

* 19th February 2023 - The 76th BAFTA Awards.

* 24th February 2023 - The 12th AACTA International Awards.

* 25th February 2023 - The 34th Producers Guild of America Awards.

* 25th February 2023 - The 50th Annie Awards presented by the International Animated Film Association - Hollywood.

* 26th February 2023 - The 29th Screen Actors Guild of America Awards.

* 4th March 2023 - The 38th Film Independent Spirit Awards.

* 5th March 2023 - The 75th Writers Guild of America Awards.

* 12th March 2023 - The 95th Academy Awards.

Stay tuned into your future Odeon Online editions for the full list of all the winners, grinners and also-rans of the aforementioned awards ceremonies, and perhaps then some. 

This New Years Day then, there are only two new release movies coming to a big screen Odeon near you, and we begin with an American remake of a Swedish film from 2015 about a sixty-year-old grump who no longer sees purpose in his life following the loss of his wife and is ready to end it all, but his plans are interrupted when a lively young family moves in next door. And closing out the week we have an Aussie drama film about a young girl, who while learning to dive, befriends a magnificent wild blue groper, beginning her life-long journey to save the world's coral reefs.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it either of the two latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.

'A MAN CALLED OTTO' (Rated M) - this American comedy drama film is Directed by Marc Forster and is the second film adaptation of the 2012 novel 'A Man Called Ove' by Swedish author Fredrik Backman, following the 2015 Swedish film of the same name Written and Directed by Hannes Holm. Marc Forster's prior film making credits take in the likes of 'Monster's Ball' in 2001, 'Finding Neverland' in 2004, 'The Kite Runner' in 2007, 'Quantum of Solace' in 2008, 'World War Z' in 2013 and 'Christopher Robin' in 2018. The film saw a limited release in the US from 30th December before a much wider release from 13th January and has so far garnered mixed or average reviews.

The film tells the story of Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks), who after his wife dies and he is forced to retire from his job of nearly forty years, this grumpy sixty-year-old decides to end his own life. He lives his life by a staunch set of principles, strict routines and a short fuse, and gives everyone in his gated neighbourhood community a hard time as he watches over it like a hawk. His only joy comes from criticising and judging his exasperated neighbours. However, his attempts at suicide are thwarted when a lively young family moves in next door, and he meets his match in quick-witted and very pregnant Marisol (Mariana Trevino), leading to an unexpected friendship that will turn his world upside-down. Also starring Rachel Keller and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo.

'BLUEBACK' (Rated PG) - is an Australian drama film Directed and Co-Produced by Robert Connolly, from a screenplay written by Robert Connolly and Tim Winton, based on Winton's 1997 novel of the same name. Connolly's previous feature film making credits include his debut in 2001 with 'The Bank', then 'Three Dollars' in 2005, 'Balibo' in 2009, 'The Turning' in 2013, 'Paper Planes' in 2015 and 'The Dry' in 2021. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Toronto International Film Festival back in mid-September 2022, and is released here in Australia on New Years Day. The film follows Abby (played by Ariel Donoghue as a child, Ilsa Fogg as a teenager and Mia Wasikowska as an adult), a child who befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving. When Abby realises that the fish is under threat, she takes inspiration from her environmental activist Mum, Dora (Radha Mitchell) and takes on poachers to save her friend, and help protect the ocean that she so loves. Also starring Eric Bana and Erik Thomson. 

With just two new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the week ahead.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-