Hugo, remembered

To begin with a digression, is perhaps my favourite start. This year has undoubtedly been the best of my life so far. Far from personal progression, let me quickly plunge into what I would call, one of the finest movies for children in a while - Hugo.

There would be, in hindsight, many who would say it's the best in terms of technique and cinematography (frankly, never quite got what it really means) for a film as beautiful as this, mere Imagination should, let's say, suffice to be the stronghold of this movie. Based on a book by Brian Selznick, which I have read partly by now, the story progresses, with immense help of black and white sketches. The writing is simple, and doesn't lose its pace. The movie is almost magical, and metacinematical in many layers. I could go on with describing, how with every scene, Martin Scorsese captures details and presents a long, yet delicate frame of a story. It is undoubtedly moving, yet sentimentality doesn't hinder either the pace or the chronology. Hugo Cabret is an orphan, yet the sadness in his wide eyes is kept mellowed, and restrained as tightly as the automaton, with a missing heart. It is, as if, the journey is complete once the 'key' to the heart is restored, and things fall into place, but it isn't deus ex machina.  Dip into the film, if you haven't yet. I keep the rest of the movie in my mind, without giving away too much for the labour of writing.  

(images thanks to Wikipedia and Google)