Hugo

Hugo

(Martin Scorsese, 2011)

Rating: 4.5/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

Summary: Scorsese, in an unlikely new genre of 3D family film, has done it again. 'Hugo' is a masterpiece of imagination and a passionate love letter to the magic of the movies.
 

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Martin Scorsese isn't best known for his love stories. Or family friendly films. Or use of glossy 3D. This is the man who brought us cinema as violent, shocking and adult as 'Mean Streets', 'Taxi Driver', 'Goodfellas' and 'Shutter Island'. His last film to have a family-friendly age certificate was 'The Age of Innocence' and that wasn't exactly a laugh riot for the kids.

But Scorsese isn't selling out to the big studio machine or watering down his vision. He's still a remarkably assured filmmaker and 'Hugo', his love letter to early cinema, is an absolutely brilliant addition to his enviable CV.

Taking place almost exclusively in a Parisian train station in 1931, our eyes and ears to this wonderfully rich world belong to young Hugo (Asa Butterfield) who maintains the clocks in the station while evading the guard (Sacha Baron Cohen).

There he falls for feisty Isabelle (Chloe Moretz a million miles away from her breakout role in 'Kick Ass'). Together they try to unlock the mystery why the key she wears around her neck fits inside an automaton left by his deceased father (Jude Law) and how a toy store owner (Ben Kingsley) connects.

The direction that Scorsese's film takes is simply magical. The less known going in the better. Scorsese often creates claustrophobic settings like gritty urban streets, mental hospitals and decaying gangs, but here he's created a world that reaches out and expands, dancing around with ideas of love and magic and filling his rich location with a wonderful ensemble cast. An unforgettable film.
 

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