Review of 127 Hours (2010) by Freddie K — 07 Aug 2016

"Oops...".

This is the best nightmare I've ever dreamt.

127 hours is written and directed by Danny Boyle and tells the real life story of Aron Ralston, who survived miraculously after having his arm lodged between a rock and a canyon in Utah.

Off the bat, this film is absolutely breathtaking to look at. A combination of blue, yellow and orange lighting merges together to give a beautifully comforting palette to our fallen 'hero'. A wave of fever dreams, tied with a tightly knotted bow of regret and self deprivation add for what is the scariest film I've ever seen, which is not a horror. Danny Boyle has an incredible talent for mixing stylised and yet somehow believably realistic imagery in his movies with the perfection of Jon Harris's editing. James Franco plays Aron Ralston swiftly and comfortably, he slots in to what you'd expect his portrayal of typical movie douchebags to be, and then bitch slaps the daylight out of your expectations when you cry and wince at this man's pure, unfiltered suffering. At times, the movie is oddly comforting as it flashes back and forward in time between his memories, alluring hallucinations of differences he'd like to make and the pain and silence that he can't in an instant. Nature is gorgeous you know, but only in patches.

The only problem I can think of this film, is that well, you can't really develop a tour de force of dialogue because it's so simplistic yet layered with complexities that only the viewer can experience. It's not a language achievement, but a language of the heart and instinct? A star. Danny Boyle is making you itch in your seat, meaning it's not a particularly nice viewing, you can't watch this film like you watch any old film.

Absolutely mesmerising.

A+.

95/100.