Review of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011) by Henrik S — 22 Jul 2013

Despite all the negative reviews, I found this to be a heartfelt and lovely film, which basically deals with nothing else but the grief a child suffers from following the tragic and senseless death of his father.

Yes, the film might be a bit contrived and silly in party, but then again, it is the story of a desperate youth and his attempt to make sense of the world and what happened to him especially, so I found it to be a fitting undertone, despite the weirdness and unrealistic plot, it is about the imagination and desperation of young boy after all.

Tom Hanks makes all this work by delivering an endearing portrayal of a loving father figure without which the whole premise could have potentually fallen apart. Thomas Horn is a good actor and his scenes are not as cheesy as most emotional scenes including kids.

All the scenes between Horn and Sydow are quite magical, kudos to the old master for delivering such a tour de force without even having a talking role. I only found Sandra Bullock to be a slight miscast and her character was pretty pointless and utilised heavily in the solution of the film, but I found that to be one of the few things in the film that was just too far fetched, and boy, I cannot stand to look at her botox-ridden mask of a face.

The film has a few scenes that are so incredibly touching they made me cry but also offers a bit (only a bit) of comic relief. It kind of reminded me of Wes Anderson films, who frequently creates juvenile characters in search for deeper meanings and higher truths.

All in all, I though this was a greats film, not a masterpiece but genuinely concerned with its characters and dealt with all the horror of 9/11 without being tacky.