Hugo (3D) (Martin Scorsese, 2011): US

Reviewed by Natanya Maskart. Viewed at the Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara.

Hugo is an extraordinary film set in 1930’s Paris train station.  It follows the story of Hugo Cabret, a young boy who lost his father in a fire, and now lives with his uncle in the train station repairing and taking care of all the clocks.  When his uncle disappears mysteriously, Hugo is left by himself.  He steals what food he can and carries on his uncles work as to not draw any attention from the station inspector played by Sacha Baron Cohen.  Hugo’s world begins to turn when he starts to fix an automan that his father once had.  Reading his notes, Hugo starts to piece him back together, hoping for some message from his father.  Steeling different pieces of toys from the toy store owner in the station, he slowly puts him back together, but one day, after getting caught, the owner of the toy store takes his notebook with the directions for the automan.  This sets Hugo on his journey of not only turning this “enemy” into his friend, but a journey of self discovery for all around him.

With Scorsese bringing these colorful characters to life, he embraces every part of film making to make this movie a wonderful experience.  He sets the place so well with his art director making the brisk winter in Paris quite beautiful on screen.  Not to mention his use of 3D and amazing cinematography captivates your senses more than the ordinary movie would.  With the help of the Toy store owners grand daughter, Isabele, they both take a leap into an adventure of research and truth.

The acting all around is phenomenal and really makes the audience care for each and every character, whether good or bad. Although Hugo is the main character, I don’t find him to be the most interesting.  I found the supporting actors really drove the story along. Especially Issabelle and her grandfather.  The mise en scene was incredible with the station being fabricated in a studio.  I had read that the scene with the train crashing through the station was shot here in Los Angeles.  The lighting throughout the film gave across an almost dream like mood throughout the film.  With the steam coming from pipes along the corridors of Hugo’s maze, it almost sets the scene for a horror movie, making the audience feel horrible for Hugo and where he has to live.

What I truly enjoyed most about this film was watching all the characters change and grow.  To me, what makes movies so interesting to watch is to a see a character develop into something they didn’t think they were.  I think self discovery is one of the main themes of this movie as we can see with most of the characters surrounding Hugo.  Scorsese did an incredible job and adapting this story to put on the silver screen.  It’s no surprise that he Scorsese won his third golden globe award for best director with this film.  It truly was a movie going experience, and I would recommend this film to anyone, whether you are an adult or a child, I think everyone can leave the theater appreciating it