Settling the Scorsese

It may have lost the Best Picture Oscar to The Artist, but Hugo rounded up a raft of technical awards and received nearly as many praises from critics. This past weekend, I got to catch up with the film and judge for myself.

Director Martin Scorsese has spoken frankly about his motivations in making this film. One was that he was keen to make use of new 3D technology and make his first 3D movie. Though I did not get to see the movie in that format myself, it was clearly designed for it. It is an intensely "worked" film. I would say overworked, actually. Every frame is labored on to create this very polished, not-quite-storybook-but-not-quite-reality feel. The camera sweeps and moves every which way, and "pop out of the screen" 3D gags are present at every turn. I think it all a bit overt, but if Scorsese set out to make a 3D film, then mission accomplished.

The other key motivation Scorsese has acknowledged in interviews was a desire to step away from violent, adult films and make something that his grandkids could watch. On this count, I think Scorsese was significantly less successful. The pacing of the movie is quite slow and methodical. I struggled with my own attention span at a few moments during the movie; I can't imagine a child hanging with it more attentively just because two of the main characters are pre-teens themselves.

So, Hugo is a luxurious looking film with a slow pace. Total Oscar bait, right? Well, add in the true subject matter at the heart of it. Ultimately, the movie is about the origins of movies themselves, revolving around the work of a real-life French filmmaker who made a famous early film about a voyage to the moon. (Anyone who watched HBO's From the Earth to the Moon mini-series may recall Tom Hanks playing this man in the final episode.) So add to the Oscar bait cocktail a reverence for the history of film, glorifying a century-old classic of the medium. And the whole thing was directed by Martin Scorsese.

If only The Artist hadn't come along to be even more a love letter to film history, you could rest assured Hugo would have won the Oscar for Best Picture.

There are entertaining performances by Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Chloe Moretz, and Jude Law. Young Asa Butterfield isn't the strongest lead, but he is still at the heart of the few scattered moments of some emotional heft in the film. And, as I mentioned before, the look of the film is top notch. If you like the spectacle of movies, this one is for you.

But I myself felt a little too bored by the plot. I still have more than half of 2011's Best Picture nominees to go, but this now stands as my least favorite of the ones I have seen. I rate Hugo a C-.