Watching Extremely Loud

Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, where can you go wrong? But together in a movie about the personal aftermath of 9/11? How is this going to work?

These are the questions I asked myself when I saw the preview for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The trailer interested me enough to take a chance and go see it. I called up a few of my buddies and off we went to the theatre.

As the opening credits were rolling, we read “Based on the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer” All three of us looked at each other and asked “Did you know this was a book?” Evidently we all had been living under a rock, because we were oblivious to this new found fact.

The story line follows Oskar (Thomas Horn), a young boy of the age of 11, as he goes on the quest of all quests, searching to solve what he believes to be the final mystery his dad (Tom Hanks) had set up for him. He ventures through the jungle of New York City, talking to every person with the last name Black, the only clue he has to go on. Oskar uses a highly organized system and a quest log to document all the people he meets and their stories.

The movie is consumed by a voice over, which keeps the viewer in Oskar’s head the whole time. His thought process is unique and the desperation to hold on to some part of his father is evident. He has given up on his mother (Sandra Bullock), believing she could never understand the pain he is going through. There is one scene in particular that is both heart wrenching as well as jaw dropping; When Oskar is taking to “The Renter”, a mute man who lives in the spare room of his grandmothers, and he is giving a tell all, a confessional, of everything he has been through as well as everything he is planning to do. The boy is hysterical as he finally gets all of his secrets out. There is a constant feeling of being pulled forward through his internal torture, not knowing when it’s going to let go of you.

The movie gave a sense adventure along with a roller coaster of emotion. At some points I was curious, at some I was angry, some I was sad and grieving and some I was excited. Sandra Bullock went from a happy, comfortable mother in some flashback scenes, to a distraught, weighted down, broken woman who has lost the love of her life. She looked aged and tired. Her execution of the role was convincing and realistic, pulling onlookers into her character’s life.

Tom Hanks portrayed a loving father who was concerned about the social skills of his son. He knew his son loved puzzles, so he made up riddles to get him to branch out and meet new people. You could feel the closeness between Hanks’ and Horn’s characters. There was an invisible bond that each character fed off of. Overall, the cast did an excellent job. This is Horn’s break out movie, and I was thoroughly impressed with his portrayal of Oskar.

The emotional ups and downs of the movie were physically draining. The movie is most definitely a downer. The ending, however, was contrastingly happy. It almost seemed as if it was too happy. Don’t get me wrong, I like a happy ending just as much as the next guy, but this one was a little over the top. It seemed as though the director just didn’t want to leave the audience on a down note in fear they may go home and cut themselves.

Over all it was a descent flick. I would recommend it.  I have the book in my possession now, but I haven’t started on it. However, it’s next on my list.