I don’t generally write reviews of movies, but hey it was adapted from a book and I feel
compelled to do so with this one. Here’s
a bit about the film from its website: Adapted from
the acclaimed bestseller by Jonathan Safran
Foer, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” is a story that unfolds from
inside the young mind of Oskar Schell, an inventive eleven year-old New Yorker
whose discovery of a key in his deceased father’s belongings sets him off on an
urgent search across the city for the lock it will open. A year after his
father died in the World Trade Center on what Oskar calls “The Worst Day,” he
is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him
into confronting his wildest fears. Now, as Oskar crosses the five New York
boroughs in quest of the missing lock – encountering an eclectic assortment of
people who are each survivors in their own way – he begins
to uncover unseen links to the father he misses, to the mother who seems so far
away from him and to the whole noisy, dangerous, discombobulating world around
him.
My Take
In the mind of a child everything has a reason for
happening. There is the ever present “why”
tied to everything until the sea of whys have been quelled in their
landscape. Some things have no answers,
no reasons, nothing solid and concrete to hang on to. Oskar is a young boy longing to discover an
answer or at least some legacy left behind by his father that will help him
make sense of what has happened; to show him how to go on from the very painful
existence he’s experiencing since his father’s death. His father used to send him on
expeditions. Expeditions that were the
most masterfully crafted experiences to challenge Oskar in facing his fears,
pushing his boundaries, and yet all of that cloaked in the adventure of it
all. Oskar most assuredly faces
challenges with sensory processing issues and more than likely Asperger’s
Syndrome (a condition on the autism spectrum).
Clinging to the memory of his father he sets out in search of the lock
to fit the key he found in his father’s belongings. Along the way, he meets a myriad of people
who may not know what the key fits but they each bring their own gifts to
Oskar. He may help some of them to find
answers of their own on his journey.
This movie was a symphony of emotion where not a sour note
was struck. The emotions were far
ranging and ran the gamut of the human experience. The characters are rich, deep and
honest. Thomas Horn, who plays Oskar
gives an amazing performance. This is
his first movie and we’re bound to see more of him for many years to come. Tom Hanks plays his wildly creative,
extremely loving father that we get to know through flashbacks. Sandra Bullock plays his loving, albeit grief
stricken mother. The rest of the cast is
wonderful as well. This movie is
phenomenal and should be experienced. I
wish I could give more than 5 kisses but these 5 will have to be the
answer. Now get yourself to the movies.
J
