Pleasantly Surprised and A Bit Confused

Granted this was a book first, but the title of this movie lends to all sorts of gags for film reviewers.  How many of them used a variation of it for the headline over their review?  Well, at least one of them.  Look at what's at the top of today's blog entry.

From the trailer and some of the negative reviews, I had resolved to avoid "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," citing that most of the buzz was that it was extremely manipulative and incredibly heavy-handed.  Indeed, how can you not be when the 9/11 incident, termed by young Oskar in the movie as the "worst day ever" is the focal point of the whole film.  As time wears on, we are likely to see more and more movies devoted to how people reacted on that fateful morning. 

Eventually, we'll get more and more comfortable with the inherent drama and we may even wind up with a dark comedy around the event.  Who knows?  Maybe there will be a film where the collapse of the Twin Towers is completely thwarted by Jason Statham in a gaggle of special effects.  My guess is there's such a script in development as we speak.

Nevertheless, the wounds are still fresh so we'll get plots like this book and movie, which are a bit stilted and overly sentimental.  Mallets when small hammers will do just fine.

Trust me, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is stilted and overly sentimental.  But, somehow and some way, I liked it.  Despite of itself.  Indeed, its heart is in the right place, although several of the valves get easily clogged with blockages of fat and sugar.  As do most films these days, the director here, Stephen Daldry, can't decide on one single ending so he includes all of its choices.  As a result, the movie is about a half-hour too long, but, then again, so are most films in 2012.

You may be aware that "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" tells the tale of young Oskar, whose dad is fatally trapped in one of the World Trade towers on 9/11.  A year later, the kid, still badly in need of some grief counseling, finds a key in an envelope his dad labelled simply "Black."  He sets out on a journey across the five boroughs of New York to find which of the 240 plus people named "Black" in the metropolitan area matches up to the key.  Talk about your needle in the proverbial stack.  But, that's this boy's way of keeping his father alive, so I can't quibble.   My own father let behind for a locked suitcase.  When I opened it, the valise was full of light bulbs.  Certainly not an anecdote that inspires a whole movie treatment, but you get the idea.

Young Oskar is a bizarre little chap with enough psychological issues to keep Dr. Phil on the air for enough three seasons.  His multiple quirks and tics make you wonder if he grows up to be Sheldon Cooper on "The Big Bang Theory."    As annoying as he is, the movie hangs completely on the child and it's to actor Thomas Horn's credit that you like him and actually root for him during his quest for mailbox closure.

The acting all around is top notch.  Bloated Tom Hanks plays the dad and, of course, gets very little screen time for which lots of us are extremely glad and incredibly grateful.  Never has one Hollywood actor been as overrated as the pompous Hanks.  Meanwhile, Max Von Sydow scores mightily in a supporting role which will net him an Oscar nomination shortly.  This is noteworthy since he does not utter a single word of dialogue during the entire movie.

And, stop the presses, Sandra Bullock does her best acting ever as Oskar's confused or maybe not so confused mom.  I've never liked her, since her emoting actually lets you physically see her acting.  Not so in "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."  She is tempered, nuanced, and organic in her scenes.  This role is worthy of an Oscar, not that manic dribble she gushed with in "The Blind Side" several years back.

But it is young Horn's picture.  It's always risky to put the entire success of your movie on a child.  While certainly no Mickey Rooney, Thomas answers the bell with a more difficult subject matter.  But then again, nobody ever bothered to make "Andy Hardy Meets A Terrorist."

Glowing words aside, there are problems with "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."  Besides the fifteen or sixteen false endings, I came away asking about inconsistencies in the plot.  Why did?  How did?  How come?  And, since Oskar is self multilating himself during his grief, I'm a bit confused how his mother did not see this on his body.  A whole year and Mom didn't see her young son with his shirt off even once?  Hmmm?  I'm thinking there are whole chunks of dialogue that were mysteriously lost someplace, much as was the case with lives on 9/11.

So, you'll come away extremely puzzled and perhaps even incredibly annoyed.  But, nevertheless, the film holds you firmly in its grasp and perhaps one of the dozen or so endings will grab you in the throat and squeeze out a tear or two.  "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is dying to do just that. 

And maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Dinner last night:  Roast beef sandwich from Clementine's.