Hugo

This one might have spoilers. I try not to, but I didn't know what else to write about.
Someone needs to revamp the advertising spots for Martin Scorsese's latest picture, Hugo Cabret, because they make it look like a tritely enchanting story of a boy who befriends a robot who magically comes to life on goes on a CGI filled adventure. And that is not at all what this movie is. Hugo Cabret is the story of a gifted orphan who searches for his place in the grand mechanism of the world. Hugo Cabret is the story of a wound down man trying to escape a past which is being resurfaced. It's the story of a girl who finally has the adventure she's read about, a broken man becoming whole again and a couple coming together through the romance. But with all the stories that leisurely move along within the film, Hugo Cabret is above all a celebration of film.
As I watched the film, and became enveloped in the mystery of the mechanical man which Hugo devotes everything he has left in order to repair, I couldn't help feel a sense of magic. Perhaps it was simply Scorsese's direction, the winding shots which follow our orphan hero throughout the clock tower's he calls his home, or Howard Shore's lovely scores set to snowfall, but there certainly was magic in the air. Still, I couldn't figure it out. The film is set in a train station in France. The characters are not wizards, elves, or fairy tale heroes. The mechanical automaton which Hugo is repairing is a machine, and while extraordinary, it is not one which runs on anything supernatural. So where was the magic coming from? It's funny to think that the answer was in front of me the whole time. I was looking right at it. The magic was the magic film-making.
Toward the middle of the movie, Hugo takes his new friend to see her very first movie, Safety Last, the film famous for Harold Lloyd's death-defying clock stunt. You the viewer get a chance to see the film on the big screen, and feel just as audiences of it's day did, both wowed and terrified over the still impressive stunt work. The movie continues to mention how the early days of moving pictures frightened audiences into thinking a real train was heading for them. It showcases in glorious montage some of the most famous films of the early era ever. I for one was delighted at seeing images of Charlie Chaplin, Cesar the Somnambulist, and the moon from my personal favorite, Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon). I was delighted to see the film continued to share the magnificent imagery from the man who produced, directed, wrote, and starred in the iconic silent film, Georges Méliès. Scorsese paid a loving tribute to silent film and Méliès' work, showcasing clips from his imaginative masterpieces, and even going so far as to let us in one one being made. In that moment I realized where the magic was coming from.
We saw the hand painted sets move back and forth to allow actors dressed in bright costumes dance around live pyrotechnics and theatrical rigging to create the illusion of floating mermaids, flying spacemen, and dancing monsters. All the special effects and wizardy that made film so popular in the first place were put displayed in all their awesomeness, without aid of CGI filler to make it pop or sparkle. Watching as the images being recreated, you could see how it was imagination that inspired such awe and wonder. And it was pure love for film and all its potential that made it so beautiful and fun. It was the stuff that dreams are made of, pure and simple.
Scorsese paid tribute to a true artist and an time of true brilliance in film. And I believe he did so when we needed it most. We are currently in an era where movies are compelled by franchise profiting and tent pole films are given the most attention. Scorsese reminded us of when films drew in audiences because they reacted to them, and inspired those to make them so they could share visions and stories that before could only be found in dreams. Hugo was released in the same year studios released 27 sequels to previous movies, and within of month of when 6 movie reboots were announced in the same week. If there was ever a time when the film industry seemed to be out of imagination and creativity, it is now. And while I know Hugo was based of a book that somebody else wrote, it still reminds us of a time when film inspired new ideas, rather than repacked old ones.
Even so, Hugo Cabret is a wonderful movie filled with touching stories, lovable performances, and plenty of emotion. It doesn't have any supernatural elements or blockbuster action sequences to curl you up onto the edge of your seat, but you'll find yourself there anyway. You'll find yourself in awe, wonder, delight, love, awkwardness, tension, suspense, and triumph as the characters go about their lives and try to find their place within each others'. And when watching the timeless works of classic filmmakers, as well as the tributes of the current ones, you'll find yourself in believing in its magic again.
You'll also find yourself wanting to find an old theater somewhere that still shows black and white movies.