Review of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011) by Dawdlingpoet — 22 Nov 2021

This is clearly quite an emotional movie, which is fictional in that its based on a novel, not a true story as such. Oskar is at times someone who can appear quite rude and standoff-ish, indeed his father originally planned the treasure hunt as a way to force him to be more social and interact with people. Its clear that he had a particularly strong bond with his father who spoke to him and interacted with him almost as if he's an adult, playing word games with him and teaching him many things. There are numerous characters present in the movie, apart from Oskar, his mother and the scenes with his father mostly at the start of the movie, most of these other characters are the people he meets while trying to trace the keys owner and they are quite quirky and intriguing, with clearly their own issues and stories or backgrounds. The one main character that appears more than others is that of a strange elderly man who doesn't speak and communicates via his hands (with 'yes' written or tattooed on one and 'no' on the other) and hand written notes - Oskar asks him why this is and is rather suspicious, scathing even of it but we never really find a precise answer and somehow they end up as an unlikely duo, indeed rather poignantly ? becomes very close to him and shares things about his father and his guilt he has surrounding details about his death on 'that ? day' - the fact that he seemed unable to respond verbally probably proving quite comforting to him, although I was suspicious (especially given the ocassional piece of dialogue) that he might start to speak, if strained speech, at one or two points. As I mentioned earlier, Oskar is quite rude, offensive even, especially to the doorman, who's played by John Goodman - quite why I'm not sure but I suppose its partly to hint that he's keeping his emotions hidden, since he only really shares the things that hurt him the most to those that are somewhat distant to him.

There are a few twists within the plot, one or two of which I felt was unecessary, indeed at the end I was a bit disappointed with the way that it had ended. Oskar is clearly a very child and the movie is based around the concept of following the clues and never giving up, yet when the puzzle is finally solved, as it were, I thought that the place the final clue or conclusion was discovered was a bit basic, in as much as I questioned why he hadn't checked there a long time before. Not only that but another twist involving the mother made me feel a bit sceptical - I somehow felt a bit disillusioned by the end of the movie, like it could, or should, have ended better somehow, though exactly how im not sure. There were some loose ends which never quite seemed to be answered, although I suppose depending on your outlook, maybe they don't matter too much overall. I wouldn't say the movie is awful or certainly not without its interest, the concept I thought was quite endearing and I like that the movie tells the story entirely from Oskars point of view, having seen a documentary a year or two back about the children of 9/11 victims who were young when they lost their parent(s); I know that they can feel perhaps a bit overlooked at times - there are many movies that have been made which feature or revolve around 9/11 somehow and this one is pretty sensitively done, although I couldn't help but question some things that seemed to go unquestioned throughout.

There is some very poignant dialogue and its quite an emotional watch, as I say, with solid performances from a decent cast including Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and John Goodman. It surprised me to see Bullock in this movie given I didn't think she appeared in too many drama movies these days but that was just a passing thought - some of the harder scenes to watch involve Oskar being confronted by his mum, who Bullock portrays, Oskar having hidden information from her and coming across as quite angry towards her, indeed the dialogue can be pretty heartbreaking.

There's not much in the way of offensive content, its obviously the theme and flashbacks to that day that may disturb some perhaps - one or two of which are rather shocking, the main one that sticks in my mind involving someone jumping from one of the towers.

While the movie certainly has its flaws, mainly in the plot towards the end, I still thought that the basic idea behind it was quite clever and quite endearing. It keeps you guessing as you follow in Oskars footsteps and become quite engrossed in his journey to discover what he believes is the last clue or treasure hunt his dad left him. It is pretty sentimental at times and I'll admit I did shed a tear or two during a specific scene, it is pretty moving at times, so it works well in that regards - if you don't let little details bother you too much (as sometimes I might) then this is a pretty good movie that your likely to enjoy (although perhaps enjoy isn't quite the right term given what its about but you know what I mean).