I am not a fan of Martin Scorsese. I have detested a decent amount of his recent films. I thought Gangs of New York was particularly awful.
Well, he has made up for it all with Hugo. This is a gorgeous film about a boy orphaned in 1930's Paris who ends up living in a cavernous train station. He is taken in by his uncle, who manages the station clocks, but the uncle is a drunk who quickly disappears. Hugo stays in the station on his own, secretively maintaining the clocks in the hopes that no one will notice him and send him to the orphanage. With him he has one memento of his father, a beautiful automaton. He and his dad had been trying to fix it when his father died. Hugo believes that the machine contains a message from his father, and if he fixes it, that message will be revealed.
The art direction is marvelous and seamless. Every bit of acting is perfect. Famous faces fill even the smallest roles, but they are not allowed to dominate or divert attention from the direction of the film. The pacing is wonderful. Even the smallest acts are allowed to develop and unfold without rushing the scenes. The tiniest of details are considered, whether the silent movie posters on the wall of the make-believe theater (Judex!) or all the pieces of clock mechanism, both big and small.
I loved this film!
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