Puzzling Choice
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
The selection of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close among the Best Picture nominees is the kind of ridiculous move that makes you want to take the Oscars with a pinch of salt. The film is a terrible adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel of the same name, about a nine-year-old boy dealing with the death of his father in the 9/11 WTC attacks.
It might seem like a story tailor-made for Oscar glory — the Academy members like nothing more than a sappy tale. Add to it the twin tower attacks and you have the perfect material for a real weepathon, one that helps milk both box office rewards and the sympathy of the Academy. However, filmmaker Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Reader) tries to tug at heartstrings a little too hard, and fails spectacularly. The film came a cropper at the box office, and received largely negative reviews from most critics. The Oscar nomination, then, is as surprising as the exclusion of Nicolas Winding Refn’s marvellous film, Drive, in the running for the top prize.
The film has a few good scenes, most of them between the little boy and his estranged grandfather, a role played well by seasoned actor Max Von Sydow, who was a regular in Ingmar Bergman films. Sydow has won the film’s second nomination, for Best Actor In A Supporting Role, but is likely to lose to another veteran, Christopher Plummer, for his performance in the film, Beginners.
EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE
The selection of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close among the Best Picture nominees is the kind of ridiculous move that makes you want to take the Oscars with a pinch of salt. The film is a terrible adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel of the same name, about a nine-year-old boy dealing with the death of his father in the 9/11 WTC attacks.
It might seem like a story tailor-made for Oscar glory — the Academy members like nothing more than a sappy tale. Add to it the twin tower attacks and you have the perfect material for a real weepathon, one that helps milk both box office rewards and the sympathy of the Academy. However, filmmaker Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Reader) tries to tug at heartstrings a little too hard, and fails spectacularly. The film came a cropper at the box office, and received largely negative reviews from most critics. The Oscar nomination, then, is as surprising as the exclusion of Nicolas Winding Refn’s marvellous film, Drive, in the running for the top prize.
The film has a few good scenes, most of them between the little boy and his estranged grandfather, a role played well by seasoned actor Max Von Sydow, who was a regular in Ingmar Bergman films. Sydow has won the film’s second nomination, for Best Actor In A Supporting Role, but is likely to lose to another veteran, Christopher Plummer, for his performance in the film, Beginners.
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