EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE (USA 2011) ***
Directed by Stephen Daldry

EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE is more of an art than commercial film, based on the recent 2005 novel by well renowned New York writer John Updike. 

The film deals with many questions involving loss especially in the case of the 9/11 attacks but provides fewer answers in the process.  But the film brilliantly deals with how human beings, in this case a boy and his family deals with the death of a close family member.  As in the other Daldry films (BILLY ELLIOT, THE READER and THE HOURS), Daldry knows how to draw on the emotions of the audience though he overdoes it a bit in BILLY ELLIOT and in sentiment in this film.

The person who dies at the film’s start is young Oskar’s (Thomas Horn) father (Tom Hanks).  Oskar is depicted as a very smart kid, who is also vegan and an amateur inventor.  Unable to cope with the loss, Oskar initially never enters his father’s room.  But he finally does so a year or two and finds a key in a broken vase.  He believes that if he finds the lock to which the key opens, he will discover a message from his father.

This is where one questions (the book or the script) of the boy’s intelligence.  This is a formidable task which might not succeed.  Worst of all, he finds the name Black written on the envelope where the key is found.  He traces all the Blacks in the telephone directory and with the help of his grandmother’s tenant (Max Von Sydow) who is mute, goes to hunt down the right Black, one by one after making a search plan.

A story like this one, centred on the character of the little boy requires the entire film to be carried on the actor’s shoulders.  Fortunately, Thomas Horn is a real find.  Horn carries the show balancing cuteness, intelligence and captivation. 

Daldry’s supporting cast is a mixed bag of tricks.  Tom Hanks makes a memorable job of a small role, the father figure that is only remembered from the son’s memories.  The grandmother character is underwritten and acted and the mother’s (Sandra Bullock) suddenly appears towards the end of the film making a big, hardly believable part.  Max Von Sydow fares the best as the ageing new friend who aids Oskar in his search.

Audiences would likely find the film dissatisfying as the key does not provide all the answered questions.  But like the key, life is full of unsolved mysteries. If the audience is willing to accept that, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE would turn out to be a more realistic than satisfying evening at the movies!