Hugo (Martin Scorsese, 2011): USA

Reviewed by Matilda Frid. Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival.

This is a beautiful and magical story that captures you from the very beginning. Martin Scorsese directed this adventure drama that appeals to people of all ages. The story in this movie is originally from an award-winning book, called “The Invention of Hugo Cabret”. Asa Butterfield, that we recognize from “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”, was chosen to play the main character, Hugo. Other actors that appear in this movie are Ben Kingsley as George Méliès, Sacha Baron Cohen as the station inspector and Chloë Grace Moretz as the young girl Isabelle.

This is the story of a young boy that becomes an orphan as his father passes away. He is left under the care of his drunk uncle that work with the clocks in the train station. When his uncle takes off, Hugo is left alone in the walls of the train station. He has to steal to survive and also maintain the clocks so that no one becomes suspicious and finds him all by himself. Hugo’s greatest fear is to be taken to the ophanage and therefore has to avoid the station inspector and his dog who is always on the look out for young thieves. We soon find out that Hugo is hiding something very important in his chamber, the only thing that is left from his father. The secret he is hiding is an automaton, a machine that he and his father were trying to fix while he was still alive. He hopes that it will contain a message from his father and is desperate to fix the machine. Together with a girl looking for adventure he tries to solve the mystery behind the automaton. Towards the middle of the movie, the story takes sort of a new turn and another mystery appears. Scorsese slowly takes us down the path of film-making history.

Every single component in this movie works. The setting is beautiful and takes us back to Paris in the old days just as we picture it. The use of 3D is phenomenal and complements the setting very well. The athmosphere Scorsese conjured was amazing and I loved every second if it. I was impressed by Asa Butterfield as he is a talented child actor. His big blue eyes mesmerized the audience and I would say it was impossible not to be moved when he bursts into tears. The other actors did an amazing job as well.

The best thing about Hugo is that everyone can appreciate it. It’s not one of those silly family adventures that are mainly aimed towards a younger audience and still manages to insult children’s intelligence. Children get to see a wonderful and entertaining story about strength and friendship while adults gets to experience a brilliant movie about the history of filmmaking. After seeing Hugo, I want to find out more about the history of early cinema. It was a beutiful celebration of film history.