Hugo (Capsule: The Muppets): CFQ Spotlight Podcast 2:46.1
Gears Set in Motion: Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz uncover the true heart of film in HUGO.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem like there’d be much intersect between HUGO — the fanciful film based on Brian Selznick’s vividly illustrated novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret — and director Martin Scorsese. It’s set in a Parisian railway station circa the 1930’s, so there’s little opportunity for Brooklyn accents; it’s about an orphan boy (Asa Butterfield) who tends to the clocks in that station while hiding out in its secret passages, so there’s little chance we’ll be seeing Joe Pesci kick someone’s ribs in; and it’s driving force is an automaton that contains within its works a secret about the station’s not-so-kindly toy vender, Papa Georges (Ben Kingsley), so forget about hearing any of the traditional, four-letter-word-laced dialogue this time around. It’s only when you find out what that secret is that you realize not only why Scorsese is the perfect choice for this film, but why this may be the film he’s been waiting his entire career to make.
beabetterbooktalker.com’s Andrea Lipinski joins Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons to explore how a tale about the founding father of fantastic film has stirred a legendary director to create his sweetest and most enchanting work, and how it in turn pays tribute to those who seek to instill the sense of wonder in audiences around the world.
Also: Andrea gives her take on THE MUPPETS. Plus: What’s coming in theaters.
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Here are a few Hugo-related links, for anyone inspired to learn more about this story …
http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/slideshow_flash.htm
the first few (wordless) pages of the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret
http://www.fi.edu/pieces/knox/automaton
info and video on a 19th-century automaton at the Franklin Institute – Selznick recommended this link at the end of his book, and he appears in the video on the right
And on a related note, here is one of the many ideas I had in my notes which I didn’t have time to share with the group: “Thoughts on automatons — more or less creepy than dolls, ventroliquist dummies, and clowns?” Feel free to use this as a starting point of a discussion, if you’d like. A creepy, creepy discussion.
Just by coincidence, this month’s Wired magazine has a good section on the Uncanny Valley. I think automatons actually fall safely outside the valley and, that dream sequence notwithstanding, I was more charmed by Méliès’ automaton than creeped out by it. What we really need to worry about is CG Tintin.