Hugo (Martin Scorsese, 2011)

Martin Scorsese's first venture into family friendly material is a pure cinematic delight that sees America's greatest living filmmaker out of his comfort zone but at his blinding best.

The story takes place in Paris during the 1930s - a small boy named Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) is an orphaned boy who lives within the confines of the cities' train station. He spends his time stealing odd bits of food to survive while avoiding the unsympathetic station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) , he also runs the stations' clocks - a job that the inspector still thinks is performed by Hugo's alcoholic uncle (Ray Winstone). Hugo was left an orphan after his father (Jude Law) was killed during a fire at the museum where he worked, the two of them were fixing a broken automaton that was left at the museum and gathered no interest from the public. They however, found the mysterious invention very interesting and dedicated themselves to figuring out its purpose; Hugo sees the world as one big machine, in the opening breathtaking sequence we actually see the city literally represented as one, Hugo says that machines never come with extra parts and so if the world is a machine he has a place and a purpose in it. He is convinced the static automaton can show him what that purpose is.

[Hugo and his father with the mysterious Automaton]

Through the intervention of a young girl named Isabelle (Hit Girl - Chloe Grace Moretz) they embark on an adventure to figure out the history of the broken automaton, a history that involves Isabelle's own Godfather George Melies (Ben Kingsley).

Hugo is a film lover's film through and through and perhaps only Martin Scorsese could have made it; one only needs to see Scorsese talking about cinema during interviews to see that his knowledge and passion for the medium is unmatched and awe inspiring. The film traces back to the birth of cinema and works as a love letter to the early pioneers who saw their invention as just a passing phase that wouldn't catch on. Over a century later and Hugo hits theatres proving that not only that cinema still has a place in our lives but that the magic is not lost and as enchanting as ever. I recently blogged about my anticipation and worries for Martin Scorsese's decision to shoot his film in 3D - a format which is too often forced and far from an enjoyable viewing experience. I wrote that if anyone can bring out the benefits of 3D it would be Scorsese and I'm happy to say I was right because he uses it so wonderfully and incorporates the format into a story that is about cinema thus making it a fitting addition instead of a money making spoiler.

Young lead actor Asa Butterfield is extremely impressive here as the Oliver like Hugo, a fruitful career surely lies ahead for him. Ben Kingsley provides the films emotional weight and is just as a pleasure to watch as always. Sacha Baron Cohen's slapstick performance as the station inspector is borderline 'Allo 'Allo! but manages to stay in sync with the rest of the film, young viewers will be filled with joyous laughter at his failed attempts to catch Hugo, not that it stopped the adults roaring with laughter too! Scorsese's composition is just as interesting and assured as you'd expect from a master filmmaker and his ongoing collaboration with DP Robert Richardson has produced yet again another stunning film.

For all of the films merits (performances, visuals, music ect) Hugo is the perfect film to see over the festive period but above all worth seeing to witness Martin Scorsese's heart on the screen during every frame.

Scorsese in 3D. If he can't do it, can anyone?

On the 2nd of December Martin Scorsese's new film Hugo will open in UK theatres. This marks the legendary director stepping into unknown territory for two reasons; for one, this will be his first family friendly film about the fantastical adventures of a homeless boy set in Paris during the 1920s, Another would be that it's Scorsese's first foray into 3D film making, a side to film making that seems to excite him more than most of us.

Scorsese's reasoning is that "We are in 3D. We see in 3D, so why not?". This is a fair point from a filmmaker as assured and passionate as Scorsese, a director who even as he approaches 70 still has the passionate spark he had from when he was producing master works such as The Age of Innocence. Scorsese views 3D as a new dawn for cinema, a new way of telling stories and an incredible chance to take cinema further than ever imagined. I appreciate his emphatic joy at the possibilities for 3D, perhaps Scorsese is the one to show us how it can be used and abused to heighten the cinematic experience, perhaps it was just a shame that James Cameron got there first, that lazy greedy studios retrofitted their releases at no extra cost but with diminished results. Perhaps only now it will take America's greatest living filmmaker to show the others who have tried before him what they had failed to achieve.

I can only whole heartedly agree with critic Mark Kermode when he states that 3D is only good for moments when characters point things into the audience. Think of the spears in Avatar for example, beyond tiny moments like this 3D end up rather redundant and a waste of money. This plus the 30% colour loss applied with 3D features and you wonder why you're paying more for what seems like less.

My hope for the upcoming Hugo is that Scorsese famously likes to move his camera. Like Max Ophuls and Francois Truffaut before him, Scorsese has been part of a long line of filmmakers who can't seem to keep still and with Hugo he will hopefully pull off some compositions that will be aided by the 3D format and blow us away, for now we can only hope. The film is also very much about the history of film; George Melies the French innovator of cinema in its earliest form features in Hugo's story.

So let's hope that through Hugo Scorsese gives us a tour of how cinema began and the possibilities of where it can still go in 2011 and beyond. After all, if Scorsese can't prove 3D as a viable format, name me a filmmaker who can.