New Release Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Stephen Daldry, 2012)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close follows Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn), a young boy living in New York, whose father Thomas (Tom Hanks) was killed in the 9/11 bombings. The events of the day - Oskar was let out of school early and arrives at home to hear six phone messages left by his father, trapped on the 105th floor of the North Tower, before watching it collapse - are relayed via flashback.

A year has passed, and Oskar and his mother Linda (Sanda Bullock) are struggling to heal, and they have been unable to maintain a healthy relationship because Linda is unable to explain to Oskar why the towers were attacked and why they buried an empty coffin to mourn his father. When Oskar is exploring his father's closet, he knocks over a blue vase and finds a key inside an envelope labelled with the name "Black". 

Believing it is a message from his father, and a puzzle for him to solve, he sets out to meet every person in the Five Boroughs with the surname Black (all 417 of them) and see if they had known his father and if they have an answer to the mystery of the key. He creates an extensive filing system and scrapbook, marks residences on map, cordoning off zones, and visiting strangers on foot on a schedule every Saturday. Along the way, he befriends a mute elderly gentleman (Max Von Sydow), who is renting a room from his grandmother. He accompanies Oskar on his search - proving to be a confidant, and source of inspiration and wisdom.

Despite a string of negative reviews, which has caused the film to suffer at the box office, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close received a shock Oscar nomination for Best Picture. ‘Emotionally manipulative’, ‘exploitative’ and ‘cloying’are all terms that have been thrown around to describe reviewers' displeasure in Stephen Daldry’s (Billy Elliot, The Reader) adaptation of the beloved Jonathan Safran Foer novel. It is adapted by acclaimed screenwriter Eric Roth (The Insider, Munich). While many of these criticisms have some weight, to base a critique on 'hating the kid' just doesn't cut it for me.

I think that is where I will start. Oskar Schell is an intriguing character, and while it can be argued that he has been written to a point of extreme originality, I actually embraced the fact that he wasn’t just a regular kid. He certainly possesses some traits that could prove aggravating to some people - he has a non-stop smart mouth, he is moody and hyperactive, and he spends the entire film walking around shaking a tambourine to ease his nerves. But, when you take into account that he may be suffering from autism or Asperger’s Syndrome, and possesses awkward social skills and an endless array of phobias (relayed to the audience through a particularly cringe-worthy montage), his adoration for his father and the unique relationship they had, and the weight of guilt he is carrying, I think his behaviour is understandable. I really felt for him, and one particular late night exchange between Oskar and his mother brought tears to my eyes.

Thomas and Linda adopt an odd style of parenting, to say the least. Thomas is the 'perfect' dad, and it is by encouraging Oskar to undertake scavenger hunts and reconnaissance missions, investigating for evidence of strange geographical phenomena, and interacting with strangers, that he attempts to assist with his upbringing. Whether letting Oskar hang about in Central Park in the middle of the night is responsible, isn’t really a question. For most of the film you wonder why this kid is allowed to wander through the Five Boroughs of New York City alone. Why does every person he meets along the way treat him with kindness and invite him in for tea, tell him stories, and let him play with their kids? People aren’t this nice - even if Oskar comes to share a sad tale. I thought this was actually a distracting feature. It all makes sense (well, more sense) following the downright implausible reveal near the ending.

On a technical level, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a lavish production. There is the usual classy work from cinematographer Chris Menges, while Alexandre Desplat once again provides a beautiful score. Yes, it swells in the manipulative fashion, but is mostly quite subtle and pleasant. Through the overly enthusiastic editing, I guess Daldry is trying to place the audience inside Oskar’s head – a place that many viewers would rather steer clear of – but I think on that level, he does a good job. Oskar narrates the story. From memory, the only time the film isn’t centred on his reflections and quest is when Linda talks with Thomas for the last time. A truly unnecessary scene. While the film’s backdrop is 9/11, and covers a city also in healing mode, it is through Oskar’s unique story where sense of the event is trying to be made.

The cast is very strong. I thought Thomas Horn was sensational. He is given a character that could be insufferable, but he successfully manages to make a viewer sympathize with him. Some of this is definitely down to blatant emotional manipulation on the filmmaking level, but I still think, for a debut performance, he showed a lot of promise. Surrounding him is a cast of veterans. Tom Hanks and especially Sandra Bullock (better here than anything I have seen her in – yes, even The Blind Side) are excellent. The always-classy Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright give their characters some life. The most veteran performer, Max Von Sydow, playing ‘The Renter’, arguably a more contrived character than Oskar (one who doesn’t talk, as opposed to one who doesn’t stop talking), gives his character everything he can, and draws genuine feeling too. I don’t agree with his Oscar nomination, however.

Thematically, the scope of the film is enormous, and it is a trying experience. There are some moments of humour and joy, but for the most part it is a pretty morose journey. There is just too much going on, though. We have the 9/11 attacks, which are relayed several times throughout the film – as both Sandra Bullock and Oskar experience them – so we have New York as a city recovering from the event. We have a child searching for a way to make sense of his father’s death, trying to relinquish a burden of guilt he has been carrying since the ‘Worst Day’, and ultimately understand and be more at ease with the world around him. We have father/son relationships (and this doesn’t just include Thomas and Oskar), as well as the stories of several other characters. It is tough trying to sensitively balance all of these different relationships, and maintain the film’s forward progression. All that is driving the story is Oskar’s quest (a seemingly impossible mission), and though Daldry is not successful in providing a balance, or refraining from being exploitative and heavy-handed with the melodrama, doesn’t mean there aren’t admirable qualities about Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Contrary to belief, it is not the weakest film amongst the Best Picture contenders. That doesn’t mean it should have been nominated, but I was genuinely surprised how moved I was on occasions. I felt for Oskar, and as unlikely as it sounds, I embraced his quest. The film is problematic, no question about it. It is contrived, structurally messy, way too long, and features angering moments (Oskar putting on a gas mask when boarding the subway, and Tom Hanks’ face on a falling body – these images should not have been in the film, period) and it blatantly holds off on revealing Oskar’s big emotional moment so that another tear-puller can be squeezed out of it. But, it doesn’t deserve the hate that has been thrown at it. I’m not going to defend it until I die, or anything, but when I left the cinema, I had no idea what to make of it. Having let it settle, I fell on the positive side of the fence. It is not essential viewing, but it is probably the best film released this week - and I think fans of the novel will find it satisfying.

My Rating: ★★★ (B-)