Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Adults learn lessons about life from neurotic child. Neurotic child deals with neurosis.


Nominated for:
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor - Max von Sydow

Here's a great example of a movie that fails miserably for no apparent reason.

The whole thing looks gorgeous. The story and characters are compelling - not nearly as sappy as anticipated. But by the end of the film, you're left thinking "So?" And when your movie deals with 9/11 survivors, this is pretty much worst impression you could leave.

Ultimately this film doesn't work for (possibly) two reasons: the audience can't tell whether the kid is crazy or just a bad actor, and the filmmakers try to fit a non-linear, non-conventional story into a typical two-hour linear film. It's like trying to shove a 10-pound live octopus into your pocket. ... Yes. Its exactly like that.

Perhaps the film's creators would have been better served with taking a Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) or Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie) approach, where the film's structure itself is hyper, surreal, and fantastical. I don't really know. In the end, its a really good story, but the film is forgettable, at best.

Eli