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Caught between two stools
posted by FergooseSTAFFMOD on December 4, 2020 at 3:03 PM
I know this film has its fans, but it is hard to work out if it is aimed at kids and parents on one hand or mainstream adults on the other. Overly long and subdued for many kids and overly formulaic for adults. Of course, if the target audience of a film about the origins of cinema was a few Academy Award voters then the director's aim was straight and true.
I enjoyed a lot of the constituent parts of the film but not the actual tale itself. I actually groaned at the 60 second period where the stories of the main protagonists and security guard were all resolved. No trope left unturned and all that was missing was puppies for the dogs.
Overall the most magical element of the film for me was discovering that Frances de la Tour appears to have been cryogenically frozen since her appearances in 70s sitcom Rising Damp. If it is tributes to the origins of cinema you are after I'd recommend Cinema Paridiso, The Artist and 'Tonight Tonight' (music video) before Hugo.
6/10
Reply by bratface
on December 4, 2020 at 10:52 PM
This is one of my favorite Scorcese films, along with Kundun & The Age of Innocence. The only part of the film I didn't like was Cohen!
Have you seen her (Frances de la Tour) in 'Vicious'? So funny!
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/47039-vicious?language=en-US
Reply by Fergoose
on December 5, 2020 at 5:20 AM
Somehow I've never heard of that. Theme tune by the legendary Jimmy Sommerville too. Will try to check it out.
Reply by rooprect
on July 12, 2023 at 10:39 PM
I think you nailed it. I just watched this movie and mostly liked it, but it also gave me a weird uneasy feeling, and you summed it up. It's supposed to be a kid's film, but Scorcese had to throw in his esoteric 2c for the Academy judges--who are predictable as ever. The problem is he didn't have the guts to go all the way and make it a film for adults with a serious tone like, say, Cinema Paradiso or Kings of the Road which really dive into the poetic & nostalgic themes of cinema. This is my ongoing gripe with Scorcese. We all know he's intelligent, he knows arthouse cinema inside out, says Fellini's 8 1/2 is his favorite film, but his own filmmaking steers clear of the arthouse and instead drives for mainstream. For the life of me I can't figure out if that's a conscious choice (selling out) or if he just lacks the vision to go boldly into the arthouse realm. This would've been a mindblowing film for adults if he had taken the same story but toned it down to a realistic drama, killed the fluff and just made this a full throated art film.