Escape from everyday life

Scorsese's Hugo is a hymn to the medium of film - Review

“Martin Scorsese to direct kids' movie” sounds like one of those joke stories run by newspapers on April Fools' Day. In this case, however, the project that many may have thought was simply a wind-up has turned out to be real… and is actually very good.

Set in 1930s Paris, the film introduces us to Hugo Cabret, a young boy living in the attic space of a busy railway station. Following the death of his father (a station employee responsible for maintaining the building's many clocks), Hugo finds himself alone in the bustling complex, continuing to wind and repair the station's timepieces. In his spare moments, he also repairs a complex human automaton, a last project of his father's. In order to carry out these repairs, Hugo steals spare parts from a clockwork toy-maker, George Méliès, whose shop is situated on the station concourse. After being caught in the act, Hugo finds himself in George's employ, and begins to uncover the cantankerous shopkeeper's miraculous past.

Aficionados of early cinema will no doubt recognise the name George Méliès, and may be able to anticipate the surprises that lie in store. I do not wish to give away the details of the plot, so it suffices to say that through George, Hugo is able to explore a world of dream-like fantasies rendered in celluloid, offering an escape from his transitory, dangerous life as an orphan railway child.

But Hugo's journey of discovery is also a metaphor for Scorsese's relationship with the cinema, and for his sense that filmmaking can offer a holiday from the hardships of everyday life. The eponymous hero memorably describes watching a film as “like seeing your dreams in the middle of the day”, and Hugo gives us exactly that: a beautiful and moving story that also manages to convey the delirious, almost hallucinatory quality of cinematic storytelling.

Now finally, some parents reading this may wonder at Hugo's suitability for children. “A eulogistic hymn to the film medium is all very well, but will it hold the attention of my hyperactive child for two hours?”, in other words.

I cannot lie; Hugo may be a tough sell for smaller children, or for children unused to the slower pace of more adult films. I think there is a great deal here for young audiences, and I very much hope parents will take their children to see it over the holidays, but it would be misleading to suggest that Hugo is appropriate for all. Parents are ultimately the best judges of their children's attention spans, so I leave it to them. I feel sure that those who give it a go will not be disappointed.

Rating: ****

N2 film reviews – supported by Newbury Vue