Martin Scorsese has a deep love for movie history and film preservation. Both passions are imbued in Hugo, a charming tale of a child’s personal search that leads to a treasure of memories and redemption.
At a Paris train station in 1931 a young boy, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) lives a solitary existence. The train inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) lurks about looking for stray children to send to the local orphanage. One day Hugo notices an elderly watchmaker (Ben Kingsley) who sits lonely and silent. Joined by a curious girl, Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), the two join forces to investigate the old man and learn that there is much more to him than meets the eye. Add to this a mysterious mechanical man built by Hugo’s father and known as an automaton whose cryptic writings may provide clues to the past. But how to unlock these secrets? What the young couple finds will lead them back to the old man as there seem to be a surprising connection, and through the old man, a remarkable past is rejuvenated that will harken back to the birth of movies.
As the mysterious, old man, Ben Kingsley provides the gravitas to flesh out a character that at first seems dull and lonely, whose past catches up and reveals a lifetime of hope and genius heretofore forgotten by the public until Hugo and Isabelle rediscover it. The kids are well cast although Hugo comes across a bit of an oddball whereas Isabelle is a sweet girl who compliments him. Cohen, quite effective in a villainous role, is properly mean and threatening until he has a change of heart near the end, and you wish there had been more of him because his character evolves toward the end.
In fact the whole heart concept permeates Hugo. There is the budding love between Hugo and Isabelle, the old man’s romance in his past, and even the hint of love from a flower girl. There is the heart shaped key that unlocks the automaton’s mechanism. The automaton serves as a static character, a kind of Pinocchio in scenes where Hugo talks to it in the absence of his father. Above all, it’s all about a love for movies past and present.
It is clear how much Scorsese loves movies in smaller, intimate scenes as when Hugo and Isabelle sneak into a Harold Lloyd film or when he shows snippets from earlier moving images. The main thrust of Hugo’s plot provides Scorsese the excuse to restage classic kinescope and film clips. It’s like reliving history. Film buffs will love these moments as Scorsese lovingly and painstakingly recreates early silent film. We see history and magic being made simultaneously!
A minor problem with the film is that it feels a bit uneven at times, and you never feel fully engaged with the characters as much as you want to be. Hugo and his friend Isabelle should be the focus all the way, but the film seems to occasionally stray from their journey. As a couple, they are more tentative and reserved than Harry Potter and his friend Hermione in the Harry Potter series. It lacks a strong emotional center. One wonders how a director like Steven Spielberg or Tim Burton would have interpreted the story.
Technical and production quality are superb. This is a fully realized fantasy world especially with the overall design and art direction and costumes within the train station and immediate neighborhood. Even the visual effects work well within the story without being a distraction.
The film does works for both children and adults. Hugo in a way represents the painful and joyous past that people keep hidden until it is released by patience and love.
*** of **** stars
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