Hugo: Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese may have claimed that he made Hugo because his young daughter asked him to make a film based on the children's novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, but I think that Scorsese jumped on this production because it allowed him to tell a story that was personally near and dear to his heart. The film tells the story of Hugo Cabret, a young orphan who lives in a Paris railway station in the early 1930s. He was trained by his alcoholic uncle to fix and maintain the numerous clocks in the station. But it also turns out that Hugo is a genius at mechanics. He spends all of his spare time trying to fix a broken automaton that his father discovered in an old museum. One day, while trying to steal parts for the automaton from a local toy shop, he is caught by the owner, Monsieur Georges. One thing leads to another and it is discovered that he is really Georges Méliès, one of the earliest pioneers of the cinema. Oh, there's a story of how Hugo falls in love with Georges' goddaughter and they go on an adventure to fix the automaton while avoiding the miserly Inspector Gustav who patrols the train station. But the real heart of the story are the scenes involving Georges. Scorsese recreates his famous studio and sets in flashbacks to his early life. It's obvious that Scorsese cared more about the segments that centered on Georges than on Hugo. The scenes with Hugo are well-shot, but they lack a certain energy and seem laborious. Whenever Georges is involved, the film springs to Hugo: he made people genuinely interested in early cinematic history. When I was walking out of the theater, I had to repeatedly reassure my parents and sister that the parts about Georges' life and work were real. My dad was particularly surprised to learn that a montage near the end of the film was actually comprised of real clips from Georges' work. And Hugo did something else that was very important: it told a genuine story for children that was entertaining and didn't talk down to them. I have a distinct distaste for most "children's entertainment" because of this inescapable attitude that stories have to be dumbed down for children. Hugo doesn't pander to children. It appeals to their natural sense of wonder, amazement, and discovery. While I was in the theater, there was a family behind me with a small child. The child had a blast. He was laughing and enjoying the film. Hugo is a reminder that films for children don't have to be made on a lower intellectual plane in order to engage their intended audience.

7/10