Scorsese is better known to my generation for stories of gritty realism that made movies into art that was truly engaging. My family loves to quote the whole mook scene from Mean Streets for obvious comic reasons. Hugo, his latest film initially attracted me because it was in 3D and, with a name like Scorsese as the director, I felt confident that the story would be satisfying unlike the appallingly empty Transformers series. I don’t need some pretty boy on screen going “Whoa” because the marketing suits think I’m too stupid to understand how cool their product placement is.
Scorsese has experience in mixing live action with computer generated sets and locations with Gangs of New York to recreate places that have disappeared into history. With Hugo he has recreated Paris of the 1920′s – with some artistic license. By compositing live action with computer generated sets he has been able to overcome many of the production challenges of creating 3D images that are both comfortable to watch and thrilling to the audience. I only experienced a breaking of fusion between the left and right images in a few fleeting moments where I think pushing the limits was well worth the risk. Occasionally the close-ups violated the depth of the frame, but again it was to advance the story so I do not see it as a fault.
The film does not succeed on effects alone. Scorsese has paid careful attention to the rest of the craft of making films. He has plundered Britain for some of its best actors; even employing Sacha Baron Cohen as Gustav, the comically neurotic Station Inspector. The camera work is ambitious. I would really love to know how they achieve some of the focus pulls. Did they gear the two lenses together or was there some sophisticated post production magic involved?
Most of all Scorsese has a truly great screenplay by John Logan. Ben Kingsly gets flex his muscles with some hefty dialogue. The story itself benefits from being adapted from Brian Selznick‘s novel, but turning into a movie requires both sensitivity to what one can bring to the screen and ruthlessness about cutting what one cannot. This has allowed Scorsese to be better at telling a story than he has been in over a decade. A day later and I am still amazed that the film holds together so many themes while still flowing naturally. I will leave it to others to catalog the different themes and critique the drama of the various scenes.
His greatest success is a story that engages everyone. Scorsese should do more work in fantasy. I don’t want to suffer through another 3D special effects spectacular with a weak plot.
