It’s Oscar season! January is that wonderful time of year when Hollywood takes a break from releasing anything worth watching and allows us to finally catch up on all of the award season favourites from the year before.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is one of those holdovers, and I have to admit I was a little surprised when I heard about its nomination. Not because I had anything against the film in particular – hell, I hadn’t even seen it yet – it’s just that usually a Best Picture nominee gets nominated in that category in all of the many other awards ceremonies leading up to the big show. Save for a few acting nominations, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close wasn’t. Not even for a Golden Globe, and they split their Best Picture category between comedies and dramas. Long story short: it came pretty much out of left field.
So is it worthy of the honour? Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is told from the point of view of Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), a young New Yorker, whose father (Tom Hanks) was killed in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11. When he finds a key hidden in a vase amongst his father’s things he sets out to find what it unlocks, hoping that it might extend his time with his father a little longer.
The film can sometimes fail to tackle the weight of its subject matter head on. You have to forgive it every now and then for a few convenient aspects of its story. But I’d argue that was a deliberate choice made by the filmmakers. We’re witnessing this story through the eyes of a child and a certain amount of innocence is to be expected. In fact, it’s often that innocence that makes the film so endearing (and heartbreaking).
Indeed, the real heart of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is in its father/son story. It can feel a little scattered at times the way it jumps back and forth between past and present, but it’s this style that delivers some of its most poignant moments. While the flashbacks to that day can be heart wrenching, director Stephan Daldry does a great job of connecting Oskar’s journey to his own personal growth and provides a lot of hope in the process.
The film also benefits from several strong performances from the cast. Thomas Horn proves himself quite capable of carrying the movie. Hanks is likeable as always, despite having a limited amount of screen time. Even Sandra Bullock puts in a good showing in her first film since The Blind Side. And then there’s Max Von Sydow, the lone actor nominated for the film, who does a spectacular job playing a mysterious mute man that Oskar befriends.
While I highly doubt that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has any chance of winning come Oscar night, I also can’t think of too many movies this year that unequivocally deserve the nomination in its place. With 10 possible spots in the Best Picture category there are plenty of movies that could have slid into one of those fringe nominations. Who’s to say this one didn’t deserve one of them?
3.5/5
