clips and trailers: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)

January 31, 2012 // No Comment

It’s not a film I’ve heard that much about but following its strong showing at the Oscar nominations, I thought I’d better find out more about Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

The first thing I’ve found out is that it’s got a bit of a mauling in the press… but then that’s not something that I generally worries about. Some of my favourite films have been mauled by the press. Granted, they tended to be a bit heavier on the special effects and explosions, but hey. So what? Ok. I don’t know if this is really going to be my type of film, but with the Oscar nominations, I’ll definitely be checking it out.

Second was that, from the description on IMDb, it kinda reminds me of Hugo. I’m sure it’s nothing like Hugo but the kid looks a bit like him and if you look at the official summary below… and you leave out the September 11th stuff… it kinda does…

A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

… there’s a kid who’s an inventor, and there’s a key, and a lock. And France. It kinda does.

Anyway, further digging proves that it’s nothing like it.

In Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close a young boy, played by Thomas Horn, finds himself on a scavenger hunt after coming across a mysterious key left by his father. Before his father was killed in the September 11th attacks it was an activity they had shared and, holding on to that memory, Oskar is compelled to investigate what the key means.

Presumably it has nothing to do with George Méliès. That’d just be weird.

RELEASE DETAILS

release date: 17 Feb 2012
director: Stephen Daldry
writers: Eric Roth (screenplay), Jonathan Safran Foer (novel)
cast: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock
genre: drama
running time: 129 mins